Kylian Mbappé edges his way into the history books - scoring twice as France beat Senegal 3-1; Erling Haaland’s off to a flying start, with a double in Norway’s win over Iraq; and Lionel Messi continues to impress, with a hat-trick for Argentina at his FIFA World Cup 2026™ debut. Who's leading the World Cup Golden Boot? And will there be more discussions after today's VAR controversy on a penalty for Mbappé? Join your host Haylena Krishnamoorthy for this episode of World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast, as she gives you the biggest talking points from day six of the World Cup.
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TRANSCRIPT
Kylian Mbappé has edged his way into the history books - scoring twice as France beat Senegal 3-1.
Erling Haaland’s off to a flying start too, with a double in Norway’s win over Iraq.
And Lionel Messi he continues to impress - a hat-trick for Argentina, and he becomes just the second player to score in five different World Cups.
This is SBS News’ World Cup Daily, The 90+ Podcast - bringing you stories from on and beyond the pitch. I’m your host, Haylena Krishnamoorthy.
Let’s start with France - the Les Bleus - and a pretty eventful opener against Senegal in New Jersey.
French captain Kylian Mbappé is now the country's greatest goalscorer.
They defeated Senegal by 3-1.
There is, of course, a bit of history here - France was Senegal's former coloniser, for over 300 years, until independence in 1960.
France, of course, are two-time champions - dominating the 1998 and 2018 World Cup - as well as being the runners-up twice as well.
But Senegal actually controlled a lot of that first half.
They were organised and sharp on the break.
But, as we so often see with this French side, they found a way to step up in the second half.
French coach Didier Deschamps made changes, with substitute Paris Saint-Germain's Bradley Barcola coming on and scoring a goal switching him with PSG-teammate Ousman Dembele in the second half, and of course, there’s Kylian Mbappé - with both his goals.
Speaking after the match, defender William Saliba spoke about the moment Mbappé made history.
"It was crazy where I was because we just conceded the first goal 30 seconds ago and one min after we scored a banger, I was so happy. Crazy goal."
Senegal pulled one back deep into stoppage time - with 18 year-old Ibrahim Mbaye scoring in the 95th minute.
And then almost immediately, Mbappé responds again a minute later.
In 2002, Senegal beat France in their opening game, marking one of the tournament's biggest upsets.
Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson who plays for Bayern Munich had a few great attempts.
Didier Deschamps says it was difficult with a great team like Senegal.
Saying they were organised and able to move ahead quickly, which can be - in his words - a danger for the French side.
Captain of French National team and forward, Kylian Mbappé himself.
"As I said, it is only a first match, we will have to progress because I think there is room for improvement with this team. We have a lot of players who are very young, it's the first time they've played a world cup. So I think there was also a little emotional outburst. I think it will do a lot of people good. It will bring a little peace of mind to win this first match, and we will prepare for the Iraq match and try to win, because if we win, I think we will be able to qualify."
To unpack it all, I spoke with my colleague Christophe Mallet.
He's SBS' French Executive Producer and also a journalist with SBS Sport.
"You know, there was a bit of a surprise but, you know, what, what really matters is the results in the end. And what I, I'm, I'm amazed match after match after match is how Mbappé is the boss. Mbappé is the director, is the conductor of this, French orchestra, if you want. And we saw it today when he, when the, when the country needed him, he was there, he responded, he opened the score when France needed it. There was a, a penalty that, you know, maybe should have been, should not have been. Let's not debate about this. But then when Senegal scored, Mbappé straight away, he was not having it. He... That's not how this match was gonna finish, and he scored again."
He was referring to the debate about whether or not France should have had a penalty when ex-Liverpool player Sadio Mané brought down Mbappé.
The referee’s controversial VAR call denied Mbappé a penalty.
"It's never easy to start a World Cup, and it's always fantastic to have a win at the World Cup. We saw other countries like Spain were not able to, to have a win, so that is a massive plus. From now, I think they just needed to align a lot of their dot the I's and, and crosses the T's and that was done in this match, so we shouldn't be too worried about the rest. Iraq, I reckon it should be okay. I'm more, interested about Norway and what should be, as we look at it now, the fight for who's gonna win that group because Norway looks amazing. "
Meanwhile, Norway defeated Iraq 4-1 with Manchester City striker Erling Haaland scoring two of the goals in Boston.
"First of all, the relationship is good (with Norway's coach Stale Solbakken). I think, you've been seeing that for the last, ever since he started the with the national team, we've been, developing a good relationship. And we've been performing both on the pitch. And then that's what's the most important thing. And, that's what we've been doing. And, goalscorer, I will say I'm up there. I don't think I scored the most goal this, this season. So statistically, no, I'm not, because, I think Harry Kane and, (Kylian) Mbappe scored more goals than me, and that's reality. So. No, I'm not."
But there's still reason to celebrate, with Australian coach Graham Arnold bringing Iraq's national team back to the World Cup for the first time in 40 years.
Despite his side's heavy defeat to Norway, Arnold says his side may only need to win one of their two remaining games.
"What we've got to focus on? Obviously, I think three points will get you through to the next phase. We've got two more games to go. I thought the bys did exceptionally well fiirst half. Couple of mistakes hurt us badly."
It is the country's second time appearing at the tournament.
Arnold is the first Australian coach to take teams to two World Cups.
The first was with the Socceroos to Qatar in 2022 before switching allegiances.
Meanwhile, more than 69,000 fans packed into the stadium to watch a pretty special moment - Lionel Messi doing what he does best for Argentina.
They were up against Algeria, back at the World Cup for the first time in 12 years.
And Messi made it count - 3-0.
He became the first player ever to feature in six World Cups - and celebrated the milestone in style, with his first World Cup hat-trick in Kansas City.
His third came in the 76th minute… taking his total to 16 World Cup goals - and drawing level with German great Miroslav Klose.
“No, honestly not. It’s obviously an honour to be there—to be alongside Klose and the others who came before. Ronaldo is there, too. But I don’t think it means anything - Mbappé scored two today, and he’s up there, too. In the end, it’s just a statistic and nothing more. While I’m proud to be able to compete with all of them, it doesn’t mean anything to me. From what I’ve seen, Ronaldo was one of the greatest, and he’s not in first place. So it’s just a statistic.”
For more on the last match today, watch SBS ON Demand for Austria vs Jordan at 2pm AEST.
And tomorrow, I'll bring you the biggest talking points of the matches between Portugal and DRC, England and Croatia, Ghana and Panama, as well as Uzbekistan vs Colombia.
Stay tuned for the latest at World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast.
For latest World Cup news, check out SBS News Headlines, wherever you get your podcasts.
