Lionel Messi has eased into the early lead in the race for the adidas Golden Boot, awarded to the top scorer at .
The Argentina ace, appearing at his sixth FIFA World Cup™, struck a hat-trick in the , moving him .
A number of big names are on the shoulder of Messi, with Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland having both struck twice in France's 3-1 win against Senegal and Norway's 4-1 victory against Iraq, respectively, earlier on Tuesday, 16 June, while Harry Kane followed suit for England against Croatia one day later.
New Zealand's Elijah Just, Germany's Kai Havertz, Sweden's Yasin Ayari and USA's Folarin Balogun are also in contention after bagging braces in their opening matches.
Lionel Messi (Argentina) - zero assists, 84 minutes played
Folarin Balogun (USA) – zero assists, 77 minutes played Kai Havertz (Germany) - zero assists, 100 minutes played Yasin Ayari (Sweden) - zero assists, 100 minutes played Harry Kane (England) - zero assists, 101 minutes played Elijah Just (New Zealand) - zero assists, 101 minutes played Erling Haaland (Norway) - zero assists, 103 minutes played Kylian Mbappe (France) - zero assists, 106 minutes played
Last updated 18:30 EST Wednesday 17 June
The adidas Golden Boot will be awarded to the player who scores the most goals in the final competition. If two or more players score the same number of goals, the number of assists (as determined by the members of the FIFA Technical Study Group) shall be decisive.
If two or more players are still equal after taking into account the number of assists, the total minutes played in the tournament will be taken into account, with the player playing fewer minutes ranked first.
Sources: FIFA Official
