World Cup highlights: Messi keeps making history ahead of Mbappe and Haaland

[p]After another eventful day in the Americas, [b][i]Flashscore[/i][/b] brings you a recap of the key takeaways from this Tuesday.[/p][p]As always, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/news/soccer-world-championship-world-cup-highlights-cape-verde-make-more-history-as-spain-impress-and-egypt-finally-win/l6drRUU7/"]catch up with yesterday's day 11 highlights here[/a].[/p][h2]Key Moments[/h2][p]The day began with a win for [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/argentina/f9OppQjp/"]Argentina[/a] [/b]in Group J (2-0), led by their captain and legendary No. 10. Three points earned against [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/austria/naHiWdnt/"]Austria[/a][/b] secured the world champions a spot in the round of 16. [/p][p]In Group I, [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/france/QkGeVG1n/"]France[/a][/b] did the same, comfortably beating [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/iraq/K8aAGt6r/"]Iraq[/a] [/b](3-0). What stood out most were the playing conditions, as the match was halted for over two hours due to a thunderstorm and torrential rain in Philadelphia! [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dembele-ousmane/zsMC2Ec0/"]Ousmane Dembélé[/a][/b] notably scored his first goal for the national team in a major tournament.[/p][p]Next up was a clash that lived up to expectations: [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/norway/8rP6JO0H/"]Norway[/a][/b] led by [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/haaland-erling/UmV9iQmE/"]Erling Haaland,[/a][/b] defeated [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/senegal/hOIsJLJr/"]Senegal[/a][/b] and [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mane-sadio/xxskxOU0/"]Sadio Mane[/a][/b]. That also makes six points for the Scandinavians, who will play a group final against the Bleus on Friday.[/p][p]Finally, [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/algeria/nc87N1BR/"]Algeria[/a][/b] and [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mahrez-riyad/AkzHA2kB/"]Riyad Mahrez[/a][/b] had a close call but managed to edge past [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/jordan/vNcmJoU2/"]Jordan[/a][/b]. It was [b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/marseille/SblU3Hee/"]Marseille's[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gouiri-amine/K0zFVdU8/"]Amine Gouiri[/a][/b] who rescued the Fennecs with ten minutes to go. They, too, will play a final for second place against Austria on Saturday night.[/p][image alt="Algeria vs Jordan match stats" id="c2bd20ea-57e3-40f6-ab53-2feed6f03b80" credit-line="StatsPerform via Opta" guid="a22e1cc6-bb5f-4d8c-9817-7d9dc6e09254" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][h2]Player of the Day[/h2][p]With five goals to his name, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/messi-lionel/vgOOdZbd/"]Messi[/a] remains at the top of the scorers' chart. More importantly, his brace allowed him to definitively surpass [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/klose-miroslav/tO31cZrF/"]Klose[/a], bringing his World Cup goal tally to 18! And that number could rise further with the last group match against Jordan, followed by the knockout stage. [/p][p]That wasn't the only record set - he became just the second player in history to score at least 4 goals in three different editions (2014, 2022, 2026), after Klose (2002, 2006, 2010). [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mbappe-kylian/Wn6E2SED/"]Mbappe[/a] became the third by scoring his own brace (4 goals in 2018, 8 in 2022, and 4 in 2026).[/p][image alt="World Cup top goalscorers" id="9d2ac2fd-7d7b-483a-820f-ced6022cf366" credit-line="IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Troy Taormina / StatsPerform via Opta" guid="d6e7d093-8deb-4d0b-a39e-19cfa7cc7d48" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Additionally, Messi became only the second player to score his team's first five goals at a World Cup after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/salenko-oleg/4OMFoqc3/"]Oleg Salenko[/a] with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/russia/hrgrswHh/"]Russia[/a] in 1994.[/p][p]With another brace, he became the third player in history to score multiple goals in three consecutive matches after Guillermo Stabile in 1930 and Sandor Kocsis in 1954.[/p][p]And that's not all: Messi is now the fourth player to score five goals in his first two matches of a World Cup after Sandor Kocsis in 1954, Just Fontaine in 1958, and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kane-harry/v5HSlEAa/"]Harry Kane[/a] in 2019. [/p][p]It's also worth noting that he became the third player in history to score a brace after missing a penalty, after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/altobelli-alessandro/KnVsKcg6/"]Alessandro Altobelli[/a] in 1990 and David Villa in 2010. And, fittingly, he achieved all these feats exactly 40 years to the day after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/maradona-diego/2oVZGPyM/"]Diego Maradona[/a]'s brace against England...[/p][p]Beyond all these records, he also put in a great performance, as his stats once again show...[/p][h2]Goal of the Day[/h2][p]It's hard to pick just one, but we've chosen Erling Haaland's second goal. Without taking a touch or even really resetting himself, the Norwegian managed to find the back of the net with an unstoppable side-footed finish. [/p][embed guid="9a3fbcae-c85f-4913-a592-a671df156709" url="https://x.com/OptaAnalyst/status/2069244554725978593" social-type="twitter" /][p]Thanks to another brace, the "Cyborg" delivered another outstanding performance, keeping pace with the other two World Cup legends. He has now firmly entered his country's footballing folklore: Haaland is now Norway's top scorer in the competition, surpassing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rekdal-kjetil-andre/pvzEbEIk/"]Kjetil Rekdal[/a] and his two goals between 1994 and 1998. [/p][p]Most notably, the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/manchester-city/Wtn9Stg0/"]Manchester City[/a] striker achieved what very few players have: scoring multiple goals in his first two World Cup matches. A spectacular debut.[/p][h2]Best of Social Media[/h2][p]Klose reacted to Messi's brace, which allowed the Argentine to surpass the German.[/p][embed guid="ee1fabdc-08dc-4cbd-9233-db597b81e09d" url="https://x.com/brfutboll/status/2069127274964922369" social-type="twitter" /][p]This might just be the cutest image of the day...[/p][embed guid="eeae71ec-4564-46fa-8a28-9052dee5a5c5" url="https://x.com/espn/status/2069137635637936261" social-type="twitter" /][p]And Messi isn't just winning over toddlers![/p][embed guid="a3eba3d1-2acb-49f0-a3ae-ab872936158e" url="https://x.com/nocontextfooty/status/2069105080934998388" social-type="twitter" /]