France striker Kylian Mbappe and Argentina captain Lionel Messi remain locked at the top of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot standings with eight goals each as the tournament heads into the semi-finals.

Even though Argentina secured a 3-1 quarter-final victory over Switzerland on Sunday to help the defending champions reach the last four, Mbappe retained first place in the standings by virtue of the tournament’s tiebreak criteria.

The FIFA Golden Boot is awarded to the tournament’s leading scorer. If two or more players finish level on goals, the first tiebreaker is assists, followed by the fewest minutes played. Mbappe has provided three assists in 563 minutes, while Messi has two assists in 608 minutes, giving the France forward the advantage.

Norway’s Erling Haaland sits third with seven goals after his country’s quarter-final exit to England, ending his chances of challenging for the award.

England have two players still in contention, with midfielder Jude Bellingham and captain Harry Kane both on six goals and one assist. Bellingham is ranked fourth ahead of Kane after playing fewer minutes during the tournament.

With France, Argentina and England all through to the semi-finals, four of the top five players in the Golden Boot race will have at least one more opportunity to add to their goal tallies.

France face Spain in the first semi-final on Tuesday, July 14, while England take on defending champions Argentina on Wednesday, July 15.

The race for the Golden Boot is expected to go down to the wire, with every goal in the remaining matches potentially deciding who finishes as the tournament’s leading scorer.

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Mikel Merino scored a late winner as Spain defeated Belgium 2-1 to reach the FIFA World Cup semi-finals, setting up a clash with France.

Spain took the lead through Fabián Ruiz in the 30th minute before Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere equalised 11 minutes later with a header.

The match appeared headed for extra time until substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammens, who replaced the injured Thibaut Courtois, failed to hold Pau Cubarsí’s shot, allowing Merino to score the winner in the 88th minute.

It was Merino’s second consecutive match-winning goal as a substitute after his late strike against Portugal in the round of 16.

Spain, who last won the World Cup in 2010, will face France on Tuesday in Dallas for a place in the final. Belgium’s tournament ended after suffering key injury setbacks, including the loss of Courtois and midfielder Amadou Onana.

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Lionel Messi inspired a dramatic Argentina comeback as the defending champions recovered from two goals down to defeat Egypt 3-2 and book their place in the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals.

Egypt stunned Argentina by taking an early lead through Yasser Ibrahim before Mostafa Ziko doubled the advantage in the second half, putting the North Africans on the brink of a famous victory.

Argentina responded through Cristian Romero before Messi levelled the match, scoring his eighth goal of the tournament and the 21st World Cup goal of his career. Enzo Fernández then completed the comeback with the winning goal to send Lionel Scaloni’s side into the last eight.

The victory, however, was overshadowed by angry protests from the Egyptian camp, which accused match officials of making key decisions in Argentina’s favour.

Egypt believed Ziko should have had an earlier goal stand after it was ruled out for a foul in the build-up, while players and staff were also furious that referee François Letexier did not award what they claimed was a foul on an Egyptian player moments before Fernández scored the decisive goal.

Following the match, Egypt coach Hossam Hassan launched a scathing attack, claiming his side had been denied a fair result and suggesting commercial interests influenced the outcome.

“It’s all about money. They want Messi to stay in the tournament,” Hassan said. “Many things happen in football because of interests. What happened was unfair. Egypt deserved to qualify. We were the better team.”

The former Egypt striker also said he would not watch another game at the tournament.

“We have suffered an injustice today. This is my way of speaking up. I am not going to watch another match in this tournament,” he said.

Goalscorer Mostafa Ziko echoed his coach’s frustrations, saying he could not understand why his earlier goal had been disallowed and claiming “everything went against us” after Egypt established a two-goal lead.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, who became emotional after the final whistle, praised Messi’s resilience after the veteran forward recovered from having a first-half penalty saved by goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir.

“Messi missed a penalty but he asked for the ball again and kept driving the team forward,” Scaloni said. “I get goosebumps. This is who we are as Argentinians. We play with all our heart.”