World Cup Today: Lionel Messi Surpasses Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe Takes French Record, Erling Haaland Makes Debut
It was an eventful Tuesday in the 2026 World Cup, with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland leading their respective nations to victories in the first matches of the tournament.
France entered the tournament as heavy favorites, and the team certainly showed why with a dominant showing against Senegal.
Argentina, however, proved to the whole world that it remains a deadly squad and shouldn't be counted out even with a 38-year-old Messi leading the way.
As for Norway, the team made a triumphant return to the World Cup after 28 years, with Haaland showing that he's here to dominate.
Lionel Messi Makes World Cup History, Surpasses Ronaldo
Heading to the 2026 iteration of the World Cup, Messi had scored 13 goals for Argentina in the competition. He was fifth in the all-time scoring list, behind Miroslav Klose (16), Ronaldo (15) and Gerd Muller (14).
After Tuesday's showdown with Algeria, however, Messi catapulted himself to the top spot alongside Klose. He surpassed both Muller and Ronaldo in one game after scoring his first-ever World Cup hat trick.
Messi opened the scoring in the 17th minute after a brilliant pass from Inter Miami teammate, Rodrigo De Paul. At the hour mark, he made it a 2-0 game before completing his trifecta of goals with a 76th-minute screamer.
Algeria was unable to put up a fight, losing to Messi and company 3-0.
The moment Messi completed his hat-trick, how is he still able to generate this much shot power at 38??pic.twitter.com/Vc45NQ89jr
— MC (@CrewsMat10) June 17, 2026
Kylian Mbappe Tops France's Scoring Leaderboard
Earlier in the day, in New Jersey, Mbappe helped the French team survive a tough Senegal squad and secure a 3-1 win.
Mbappe broke the deadlock with a low strike in the 66th minute. Bradley Barcola made it a 2-0 game for France 16 minutes later before Ibrahim Mbaye gave Senegal a fighting chance in stoppage time.
The 27-year-old Mbappe, however, quickly destroyed any hope of a comeback for Senegal with a long-range goal just a minute later.
Amazing goal from Kylian Mbappe against Senegal
— Mbappe Out Of Context (@MbappeOOC) June 16, 2026
View from the stands pic.twitter.com/M9KcqHnhSo
With his goal, Mbappe became France's top scorer in the World Cup with 14 goals. He surpassed Just Fontaine who had 13 goals for Les Bleus in just one World Cup tournament.
Erling Haaland Makes Successful World Cup Debut
Prior to the 2026 World Cup, Norway last made it to the competition in 1998. That said, the Norwegians certainly made sure their return to soccer's biggest stage would be memorable.
Iraq proved to be a tough matchup for Norway in the opener, but Haaland and the rest of the team pulled through for a remarkable 4-1 win.
Haaland scored a first-half double, breaking the 0-0 deadlock in the 29th minute before putting Norway ahead once again in the 43rd minute - just four minutes after Aymen Hussein tied the game for Iraq.
A Leo Ostigard header late in the second half put Norway up for good, and it didn't help Iraq that Hussein made a mistake in stoppage time and scored an own goal.
Related: Cristiano Ronaldo's Change in Physical Appearance Through Five World Cups Draws Attention
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 1:09 AM.