In brief
- Argentina's Lionel Messi became the top tournament goalscorer of all time after scoring two goals against Austria.
- France's Kylian Mbappé now has 16 World Cup goals, pulling him level with Germany's former record holder Miroslav Klose.
Algeria started its match against Jordan in the driver's seat.
They had possession; they were dictating the tempo. They had the match handled — until they didn't.
Jordan notched the first goal in the 36th minute. Defensive midfielder Nizar Al-Rashdan threaded a beautiful ball between the legs of two Algerian defenders and keeper Luca Zidane, son of the great Zinedine. The Algerians could scarcely believe his luck, or their own defensive mistake.
That goal created an early shift in the mood on the pitch, the Jordanians brought to life as Algeria's confidence faltered. Across the remainder of the half, the Algerian players became a shadow of themselves, only managing to mount one serious threat on goal before half-time.
After the half, however, Algeria appeared to regain some composure, slowly rebuilding its earlier energy and embarking on what would become a sensational comeback.
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Forward Nadhir Benbouali came off the bench for Algeria at the start of the second half and made an immediate impact, revving up the Algerians. The product of his work materialised in the 69th minute with a header in the box to equalise.
Drama erupted in the 82nd minute when Amine Gouiri completed Algeria's turnaround with a scruffy tap-in near the far post. VAR got involved after suggestions that Gouiri may have been offside, but the goal was sensationally allowed after it was deemed the touch came off a Jordanian player.
Algeria ended the match once again looking the better side, despite their controversial second goal. It's the team's first win of this World Cup tournament.
Norway head to Round of 32
Norway seemed like the dominant force coming into this match, but found itself up against a Senegal team that flatly refused to quit.
Norway substitute Marcus Holmgren Pedersen struck late in the first half in New Jersey before Haaland doubled the lead shortly after the break.
Ismaïla Sarr cut the deficit for Senegal, only for Haaland to punish more slack defending as Norway moved through to the knockout rounds with a game to spare despite a late consolation from Sarr.
Manchester City forward Haaland now has four goals in two games at the tournament, hot on the heels of Lionel Messi's double earlier in the day, which carried him to a record 18 World Cup goals. Not to be outdone, Kylian Mbappé scored another brace too as France beat Iraq 3-0.
Norway have lost only once in their last 18 matches and will take on France in a compelling battle for top spot in the group in Boston on Friday.
Senegal must beat Iraq, who are also without a point, in their final game to stand a chance of avoiding an early exit.
Led by the unstoppable Haaland, who increased his astonishing international goals tally to 59 in 52 games, Norway recorded back-to-back wins at the World Cup for the first time.
Norway quickly set the tone as Kristoffer Ajer's header forced Senegal goalkeeper Édouard Mendy into a terrific save with his legs at a corner, but they lost full-back Julian Ryerson to injury early on.
But Mendy allowed Pedersen's low drive to creep under him after a dreadful mistake from skipper Kalidou Koulibaly gave the ball to the replacement right-back on the edge of the box.
Haaland rolled against the post from a tight angle after Mendy got in a tangle, but he made amends three minutes into the second half as Norway sliced Senegal apart on the counter-attack.
Odegaard surged upfield and slid a pass through to Haaland, who buried an emphatic finish past Mendy to add to the two goals he scored in Norway's opening 4-1 victory over Iraq.
Senegal clawed their way back as Sarr showed great composure to poke home after tumbling to the ground following a clever flick into the area by Sadio Mané.
However, Koulibaly was at fault once more, failing to clear as Haaland steered a volley in off the crossbar from Patrick Berg's cross, delighting Norwegian fans who provided a colourful backdrop with their viral rowing chant.
France cruise past Iraq after wild weather disrupts play
Mbappé marked his 100th cap by scoring two more World Cup goals on Tuesday, as France eased to a 3-0 win over Iraq in a game delayed by two hours by a severe storm.
Mbappé opened the scoring in the 14th minute and added another nine minutes into the second half, with last year's Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembélé getting the other goal for the tournament favourites in Philadelphia.
Mbappé moved to 16 World Cup goals in his career, two behind Messi, who set a new record of 18 goals by netting twice for Argentina against Austria earlier on Tuesday.
The match in Philadelphia kicked off at 7am AEST and had to be halted at half-time as a huge storm passed over the city.
Having started in dry conditions, torrential rain began to fall late in the first half, and supporters were told as soon as the half-time whistle was blown to "exit the open seating area and seek shelter in covered areas".
The vast majority of the 68,324-capacity Philadelphia Stadium is uncovered — leaving most of the capacity crowd to pack into the concourses.
The second half eventually got underway more than two hours behind schedule, in what was the first match at this World Cup to be held up by bad weather.
It's also raining goals at this World Cup for Mbappé, whose two goals today followed two in France's opening 3-1 win over Senegal last Wednesday.
The 27-year-old Real Madrid superstar and France captain became his country's all-time top scorer with his goals against Senegal, overtaking the previous best tally of 57 for Olivier Giroud.
He now has 60 goals for France in a century of appearances, and 16 of them have come at the World Cup in just 16 matches.
Mbappé is now level on the all-time list of World Cup goals with Germany's Miroslav Klose, who started the tournament as the all-time leading scorer.
He has overtaken the 15 goals scored by the Brazilian Ronaldo and seems set for a shoot-out at this year's World Cup with Messi.
Next up for Mbappé and France is a meeting with Haaland's Norway in Boston on Saturday, but the 2022 beaten finalists are already certain of reaching the last 32 after notching two wins from two games in Group I.
Iraq, meanwhile, are staring at the prospect of early elimination after this defeat, following a 4-1 loss to Norway in their opening game — they have now lost five games out of five across two World Cups, 40 years apart.
Lionel Messi breaks World Cup scoring record
Messi became the World Cup's all-time leading goalscorer on Tuesday, scoring twice as holders Argentina powered into the last 32 with a 2-0 victory over Austria.
Messi swept home a low finish in the 38th minute of the Group J game in Arlington, Texas to take his career World Cup goals tally to 17, one clear of the previous record of 16 he shared with Klose.
He then extended his record to 18 goals, ramming home a finish through a crowd of defenders deep in stoppage time to put the seal on Argentina's win.
The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner, who turns 39 on Thursday, had blown a chance to break the record after eight minutes when he dragged a penalty wide of the post.
But the Argentina skipper made no mistake seven minutes before half-time, coolly placing his finish beyond the dive of Austrian goalkeeper Alexander Schlager.
The win guarantees Argentina a place in the knockout rounds of the tournament, and could clinch top spot later today if Jordan fails to beat Algeria.
"I'm very happy with the victory," Messi said afterwards. "It was hugely important, tough, hard-fought, and it gives us peace of mind for what's ahead. The match was evenly balanced, intense, and we're happy to have earned six points."
Asked for his favourite World Cup goal of his career, Messi could not pinpoint one.
"I don't remember, really," he said. "I'm tired. I don't have a lot of strength and it's hard to think for me right now. So I'm just enjoying this moment and I want to join my colleagues."
Messi, who became one of the first two players to appear in six World Cups last week alongside Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, entered this year's event three goals behind Klose. Behind his first career World Cup hat trick in the Group J opener vs Algeria on 16 June, he pulled even entering the second group-stage match.
With the goal, Messi also tied a different World Cup record, scoring in his sixth straight match dating back to the 2022 World Cup, which Argentina won. He's just the third player to score in six straight World Cup matches alongside France's Just Fontaine and Brazil's Jairzinho.
— With reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters news agencies.
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