Lionel Messi becomes the highest scorer in FIFA World Cup 2026™, surpassing Brazil legend Martha and Germany's Miroslav Klose. Kylian Mbappé breaks a record of second highest goal scorer, tying with Klose. Socceroos assistant coach Mile Jedinak talks ahead of Paraguay match, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he will be watching the Friday game. Meanwhile, Erling Haaland and Ismaila Sarr both score doubles for their teams, as Norway beat Senegal 3-2. Join your host Haylena Krishnamoorthy for this episode of World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast, as she discusses what Messi achieves this time? And will Mbappé beat this record?
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TRANSCRIPT:
He's done it again! What did Messi achieve this time?
Mbappé breaks a record up against Graham Arnold's Iraq.
And Norway's Erling Haaland shows why he's special.
This is SBS News’ World Cup Daily: The 90+ Podcast, where we bring you the stories from on and beyond the pitch. I’m your host, Haylena Krishnamoorthy.
Let's start with a piece of football history.
Lionel Messi - the GOAT [[Greatest of all time]] - has become the highest scorer in World Cup history - and he's done it just a day before his 39th birthday.
The Argentina captain missed an early penalty, but bounced back and scored twice against Austria [[2-0]] in Texas to take his World Cup tally to 18 goals.
His 17th goal today brought him past the previous record of 16 held by Germany's Miroslav Klose in the Men's tournament.
And his 18th?
That now brings him past Brazilian legend Marta's historic mark of 17 goals in the Women's tournament, which made her the greatest scorer of all World Cups.
Both star players later congratulated Messi on his achievement.
To put it all into perspective, I spoke to SBS Spanish Executive Producer, Carlos Colina.
"He missed the penalty, but he came back focused on, on scoring and he got a couple of more opportunities throughout the match, showing his skills in the pitch, but also the team working with him to become again champions of the world, which is the objective of the team at the moment. And again, saying it's the first stage, of course, and the teams are not in the highest level possible, but they are building up to that momentum."
It's another remarkable milestone for Messi, who's now playing at his sixth World Cup, almost two decades after making his tournament debut in 2006.
And the record came in style.
"Argentinians are looking forward to the whole tournament because it's only the second match. And even though it's the first stage, the next matches are looking good for Argentina, and my belief is that he's going to continue his goal strike. So very good news for Argentinians and of course demonstrating why he continues to be one of the best players of all time."
It's normally cricket where rain stops play.... but France's World Cup match against Iraq in Philadelphia was brought to a halt because of severe thunderstorms.
As the weather rolled in, officials suspended play, players headed indoors, and fans were told to seek shelter while they wait for conditions to improve.
The French were leading 1-nil at halftime, with legend Kylian Mbappé - in his 100th game for France - scoring the only goal of the game in the 14th minute.
"Defensively they are struggling, and when they are trying to strike, they are failing too much, at least in this occasion against Iraq. Of course, all the praise to the Australian coach because, he's playing very well, and he's putting his team very well against France. So Iraq is playing very good. However I don't know if this lack of being on target could potentially become an issue for France in the future when they are facing really good teams."
France coach Didier Deschamps' side came back strong - after a two and a half hour break, as FIFA cancelled a controversial hydration break due to extreme weather.
Mbappe then rose to score again in the second half, and Ousmane Dembele placing a third goal for the team.
At the age of 27, Mbappé now has 16 goals in 16 World Cup games.
This makes him the second best goal scorer, after Messi, tying in with Klose's record.
As France took on Graham Arnold's Iraq team that played defensively well, Colina shares with me that Argentinian fans - like himself - living in Australia are supporting their home country.
"For South Americans especially, football is a religion. So you can imagine if, if Argentina is going through, all Argentinians are backing Argentina 100 per cent, even though they are living in Australia. Of course, they support Australia, but if they win the future they'll, face Australia, Argentinians, I mean, I don't think they're going to support Australia at all. And they are very passionate, and you can see even the gatherings in different cities in, in Australia when the Argentinians are playing, they are massive."
He says even though Australia has given a lot to the migrant community, for Latin Americans, football is a religion.
"Looking ahead for Australia against Paraguay, even though I am from the Spanish, team, we are of course supporting Paraguay, but, but we are also supporting Australia, so it's going to be a fantastic match to watch. And depending on who wins, it's highly likely that the team, the winning team is going to the next stage, so looking forward to, to that match."
Meanwhile, there's been plenty of discussion here in Australia about the Socceroos, after their loss to the United States.
But assistant coach Mile Jedinak has backed both the team's selections and head coach Tony Popovic.
Now, all eyes turn to Friday's crunch clash with Paraguay.
And the good news for Australia?
They don't necessarily have to win.
A draw would be enough to lock up second spot in Group D and book their place in the knockout stages.
Jedinak says the Socceroos know exactly what's coming from Paraguay.
"We all know the passion that comes when you're playing against a South American team. They'll fight tooth and nail for every single opportunity. We don't expect anything different from them, and we don't demand anything different from ourselves."
And if Australia can't get a result?
Then it becomes a nervous waiting game, with the Socceroos needing other results to go their way - and hoping they've done enough to advance as one of the tournament's best third-placed teams.
And what will Prime Minister Anthony Albanese be doing this Friday?
"The whole country will be cheering them on Friday at 12 O'clock and I hope that the country stops for a bit during that time."
Paraguay's Miguel Almirón was given the first-ever red card for a football player for covering his mouth during a confrontational moment at their Türkiye match, following a new FIFA rule in this World Cup that bans players from covering their mouths during a confrontation.
A welcome one [[the rule]] for Socceroos midfielder Jackson Irvine.
"The rule itself, yeah I think it's clear - we were all told before, I know it's going to be controversial in some ways, because we don't know the nature of what it was but when you look at what's happened in the past, especially the incident with Vinicius Jr and I think it takes everything out of the equation."
Following their stunning 1-nil World Cup victory over Türkiye over the weekend, Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro has said his side should never feel like underdogs.
"Suddenly in one week we've gone from being villains to being heroes. And that's the fine line that exists in football. How quickly you can go from one side to the other."
This, as they were defeated 4-1 by the USA in their opener match.
Elsewhere today, Erling Haaland led Norway 3-2 against Senegal's Ismaila Sarr, who both scored twice each in a tightly contested match at New Jersey.
That's all from me for today, I'll be back with you tomorrow - with the biggest talking points of the day, including the matches:
Portugal vs Uzbekistan, England vs Ghana, Panama against Croatia and Colombia facing DR Congo.
Stay tuned for the latest at the World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast.
And to get the latest World Cup news, check out SBS News Headlines, wherever you get your podcasts.
