New York, July 20 (IANS) France captain Kylian Mbappe has won the Golden Boot for FIFA World Cup 2026, retaining the title of tournament top scorer which he claimed at Qatar 2022.

The France forward took his tally to ten with a double in Les Bleus’ 6-4 defeat by England in an enthralling and end-to-end Bronze final in Miami on Saturday. Having struck eight times to finish top scorer at Qatar 2022, Mbappe became the first player to win the World Cup Golden Boot twice.

The 27-year-old was the first man to reach double figures for World Cup goals since Gerd Muller for West Germany in 1970. Only Just Fontaine, who hit 13 for France in 1958, and Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis with 11 in 1954, have scored more individual goals in a single tournament.

Mbappe opened his scoring account in France’s opener by netting a spectacular brace against Senegal, thus becoming the top scorer in his national team’s history. He scored another two goals against Iraq and two more against Sweden in the round of 16. He then scored the winning goal against Paraguay in the round of 16 and found the net again against Morocco in the quarterfinals.

To cap off his outstanding tournament and secure the trophy, he scored 2 goals in the third-place match against England. Lionel Messi was the second-highest scorer with 8 goals, and Jude Bellingham finished third with 7.

Mbappe, who is now the all-time leading scorer in FIFA World Cup history, has been in electric form throughout June and July, leading France to the semi-finals, where they were beaten 2-0 by Spain.

The 27-year-old, who scored four times as his nation lifted the trophy at Russia 2018 and added eight more as they reached the final four years later, bagged braces in the group games against Senegal and Iraq and again in the Round of 32 success against Sweden.

His double-figure haul ensured he took the crown ahead of Lionel Messi, who he had traded places with at the top of the Golden Boot standings several times, as the Argentina legend ended his campaign with eight goals.

Mbappe, who also claimed the Bronze Ball for his performances, then fired home the crucial penalty to overcome Paraguay and hit the opener in France’s 2-0 quarter-final success against Morocco, drawing a blank against La Roja before adding two more in the defeat by England.

–IANS

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