Kylian Mbappe produced a timely assist to help France seal their semi-final win over a resilient Morocco side on Wednesday, but his inability to net a goal himself means the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday will pit the French talisman against Argentine great Lionel Messi as the race hots up for the Golden Boot. Both men have 5 goals each in the tournament so far.
France's Olivier Giroud and Argentina's Julian Alvarez are also in the running with 4 goals each. A great final for either of these four men would mean they will have their names written in the annals of FIFA World Cup history as the highest scorer of the 2022 event. In the case of a tie, a player with more assists is awarded the Golden Boot.
But while we enjoy the success of these players and wait in anticipation to see who ends as the top scorer of this tournament, it is also interesting to look back and see what is the record for the most number of goals in a single World Cup tournament.
To get the answer we must go back to the tournament in 1958. It was the year when Brazil won their first World Cup tournament, but the honours for the most goals in the tournament were taken by France's Just Fontaine, who had scored 13 goals.
Fontaine's record will continue to stand beyond this tournament as it is improbable for either Messi or Mbappe to score 9 goals in the remaining match.
Hungarian Sandor Kocsis (11 goals in 1954) and Germany's Gerd Muller (10 goals in 1970) are the other two players who have scored in double digits in a single World Cup tournament.