Kylian Mbappé Chases World Cup Glory, Not Messi's Record

Kylian Mbappé is chasing history, but he is not chasing Lionel Messi.

Not yet.

On a humid night in the round of 32, the 27-year-old tore through Sweden with the kind of ruthless clarity that has come to define his World Cup career. Two goals, a 3-0 win, and France strolling into the last 16. The numbers are starting to look absurd: 18 goals in 18 World Cup games, just one shy of Messi’s all-time record of 19, and level with the Argentine on six strikes at this tournament.

The narrative writes itself. Mbappé versus Messi, the heir against the legend, trading goals across continents. But the Frenchman keeps swatting that storyline away.

“The goal is to go as far as possible – to make it to July 19th and come back here,” he told reporters, eyes fixed not on the record books but on the final in New York. The top-scorer charts can wait.

He knows how this works. Score enough and the rankings take care of themselves. “Of course, the more goals you score, the higher you climb in the rankings,” he said. Then came the twist that revealed where his head really is. He expects Messi to add more anyway. So he is not obsessing over a shootout with Argentina’s captain. He is thinking about Paraguay in Philadelphia, and whoever lies beyond them.

France’s path is already mapped out in pencil: Paraguay in the last 16, then either co-hosts Canada or Morocco in the quarter-finals. On paper, it looks generous. This World Cup has been shredding paper.

Paraguay have already shown their hand. Against Germany in the last 32, they retreated into a shell, absorbed pressure, and dragged a four-time world champion into a penalty shootout they had no intention of losing. It worked. Germany went home.

There is no illusion inside the French camp that Paraguay will suddenly open up and trade blows in a wide-open game. Philadelphia is likely to bring banks of red shirts, long clearances, and a team happy to wait for one mistake.

Mbappé knows it.

“We’ll keep working between now and the Paraguay match to see what we can improve, because there are still some sequences that aren't quite clear enough,” he said. France scored three against Sweden and still walked off talking about detail. That is usually a good sign. “There’s room for improvement. Still, I think it’s positive overall, and our ability to score goals means we always have the chance to take the lead in matches.”

That ability was on brutal display against Sweden. Mbappé glided through challenges, Real Madrid’s new superstar playing with the swagger of a man who understands that this is his era. When he scored, the celebrations told another story. He and his teammates sprinted to embrace Didier Deschamps, their coach grieving the recent death of his mother.

“I think that reflects the spirit of this group – it's part of our DNA. We are all together,” Mbappé told beIN Sports. It was a small, human moment inside a tournament that has already swallowed giants.

Messi and Argentina, meanwhile, face Cape Verde in the last 32 on Friday. On the surface, it looks like a mismatch. But the last few days have turned this World Cup into a warning label.

Germany are out, knocked over by Paraguay. The Netherlands are gone too, undone by Morocco on penalties and sent to their earliest World Cup exit. Powerhouses are falling, reputations are not worth a goal, and the bracket has opened up in strange, enticing ways.

Belgium’s golden generation on the clock

Four years ago, Belgium crashed out in the group stage in Qatar, a brutal fall from their third-place finish at Russia 2018. This time, they have at least cleared that hurdle. A 5-1 dismantling of New Zealand on Friday sealed top spot in Group G. One win, two draws, job done. Rudi Garcia had set a simple target: finish first. Belgium did that.

Now the real test begins.

On Wednesday in Seattle, Senegal await – a team that finished third in Group I but emerged from one of the tournament’s nastiest pools, one that included France and Erling Haaland’s Norway. On paper, Belgium are favourites. In practice, no one is saying that too loudly.

“We wanted to finish first in the group stage and we succeeded,” Garcia said in French. “Of course we wanted to win more — we know the story of our World Cup so far. Now it is time for the knockout phase. Senegal is a big team. But, you have to beat them, too, if you want to go far in a World Cup.”

Romelu Lukaku echoed the caution. “We know it will be a tough match,” the striker said. “Senegal has a lot of top-level players, and the coach is, too. I think it’s 50-50. We really shouldn’t underestimate them.”

The last 32 has already offered a brutal lesson in complacency. Germany, gone. The Netherlands, gone. Morocco and Paraguay have blown the bracket wide open and reminded everyone that “favourite” is just a word.

“It doesn’t matter who the favorite is,” said forward Charles De Ketelaere. “We have confidence and need to be sharp. Yesterday showed that it doesn’t matter if you are the favorite.”

Belgium’s back line, anchored by the outstanding Thibaut Courtois, has conceded just two goals in three games. That defensive platform will be tested by a Senegal side that just smashed Iraq 5-0 and carries real menace in attack, led by Sadio Mané.

Senegal do have a problem at the other end. Goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, injured in a 3-2 defeat to Norway in the group stage, will miss the game. Pape Thiaw confirmed that reserve keeper Mory Diaw, who kept a clean sheet against Iraq, is set to start again.

“Mory had a great performance,” Thiaw said. “He kept a clean sheet and I think (as) the goalkeeper tomorrow, we hope that we’ll also come up with a clean sheet.”

Thiaw has watched the chaos in this round and sees opportunity, not danger.

“It’s not because you finished top of your group that you’re not going to be knocked out in the next round,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened with the Netherlands. It’s another tournament starting. We are looking for the win tomorrow so that we can continue our journey.”

Belgium, for their part, will have center back Zeno Debast available again after a leg injury, though Garcia does not plan to start him. The defender only returned to full training on Monday, his left knee still taped, and the coach is not inclined to gamble. “Zeno Debast is with the group, but tomorrow is still too soon,” Garcia said. “He is making progress, though. He still needs time to get fully fit. I am very satisfied with the defenders we have already called upon.”

Time is the one thing Belgium’s golden generation does not have. Kevin De Bruyne and Lukaku know that this might be their last shot at a deep World Cup run. Senegal will test how much they have left.

England walk the tightrope

If the European heavyweights needed any more reminders, England have been staring at them all week.

Germany and the Netherlands are already on flights home. England step into their own knockout tie on Wednesday against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Atlanta, with a place in the last 16 on the line and a 60-year trophy drought hanging over them.

Thomas Tuchel did not try to dodge the reality. “I feel it is a privilege to be in these situations,” the England coach said. “I think we can just accept it, we are the favorites (against DR Congo).” Then he pointed straight at the scoreboard from the previous night. “The games so far in round of 32 speak a very clear language. It's narrow, narrow margins.”

England will lean heavily on Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, their two world-class pillars. Reece James, so important on the right side of defence, misses out through injury, a significant blow in a match where concentration and structure will matter.

DR Congo arrive with nothing to lose and a squad built from a global search for talent with roots in the country. Of the 26-man group, 20 were born outside Congo, many in France. Yoane Wissa is familiar to English fans from the Premier League. Aaron Wan-Bissaka was born in London and once wore England colours at under-21 level. Axel Tuanzebe also came through the England youth system.

Their coach, Sébastien Desabre, made it clear where he thinks the pressure lies. “Our World Cup is already a success relative to our goals,” he said. “The pressure is on the England team.”

He is right. England are not just playing DR Congo; they are playing history, expectation, and the growing sense that this World Cup is one bad 10-minute spell away from swallowing them like it has so many others.

America’s moment

Across the country, another kind of tension is building.

In a crowded American sports landscape, football has fought for relevance for decades. On Wednesday night in the San Francisco Bay Area, the USA face Bosnia-Herzegovina in what their players know is the biggest game yet in that fight. A first World Cup knockout win in almost 25 years is on the line. So is something less tangible, but just as important.

Up to 30 million Americans are expected to watch. Primetime, packed stadium, a national audience that has flirted with the sport before but rarely committed like this.

“Everyone knows in the back of our minds what this could do for this country,” midfielder Gio Reyna said. The players feel it. “We feel the country rallying around us. We see the momentum it's bringing to the sport in this country, just through the group stage. But we also understand if we make a nice run in this tournament, what it could really do for the sport.”

Christian Pulisic and his teammates are carrying more than just their own ambitions. This is a referendum on where the game stands in the United States – and where it might be heading.

Haaland breaks new ground, France hit their stride

While the spotlight burns on Mbappé, Messi and the old European powers, other stories are quietly reshaping this World Cup.

Erling Haaland finally has his moment. The Norwegian striker, long tipped to dominate the game but previously absent from the sport’s biggest stage, poked home the goal that sent Norway into the last 16 for the first time with a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast. It was not spectacular, not one of his thunderous, highlight-reel strikes. It did not need to be. It was decisive. Norway are through, and Haaland’s World Cup journey has truly begun.

France, meanwhile, look ominously smooth. The 3-0 dismissal of Sweden was not just about Mbappé’s brace. It was the ease with which they shifted gears, the confidence with which they attacked, and the sense that even in cruise control, they have another level to find.

After one of his goals, Mbappé and the rest of the team sprinted to Deschamps, wrapping their coach in a long embrace. “We know the coach has been through a difficult experience; unfortunately, everyone goes through that at some point and it's very hard,” Mbappé said. The gesture mattered. It spoke of a squad that still believes in its leader and in itself.

Messi will step onto the pitch against Cape Verde with his own mission. Mbappé will prepare for Paraguay with his eyes on New York. Belgium’s veterans will try to outrun time against Senegal. England will walk their tightrope in Atlanta. The USA will stare down their biggest audience yet.

Records, reputations, legacies – all of them now collide with a tournament that has shown no respect for hierarchy.

The question, as the knockout rounds bite deeper, is simple: who bends this World Cup to their will, and who becomes just another name on its casualty list?