French superstar Kylian Mbappe became the first player to win multiple FIFA World Cup Golden Boot awards after Spain shut out Argentina 1-0 in the final on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Mbappe finished with 10 goals for the tournament after scoring twice in France’s 6-4 loss to England on Saturday in the third-place match.
His only competition still active was Lionel Messi, who was looking for his first Golden Boot while also trying to guide Argentina to a second straight World Cup. Messi and Argentina defeated Mbappe and France on penalties in the 2022 final in Qatar.
But Argentina couldn’t muster a shot on target against Spain’s stalwart defense and had just two total shots, both of which came late in the game. Messi went goalless for the third game in a row. He had tallied eight goals across the three games in the group stage, round of 16 and round of 16.
At 27, Mbappe can already call himself the greatest goalscorer in World Cup history. His two second-half goals on Saturday pushed him past Messi for the all-time tournament record with 22 in just 22 games. Messi – the first to break German Miroslav Klose’s career record early in the tournament before Mbappe overtook it – remained on 21 and may have played his last World Cup game on Sunday at 39.
Eight of Mbappe’s 10 goals this summer came from range. He scored twice against Iraq, Senegal, Sweden and finally England. He was the first player to score 10 goals in a single World Cup since Gerd Muller of Germany in 1970.
Apart from Mbappe, it came as no surprise that the rest of the awards went to Spanish players after their remarkable run to the country’s second World Cup title.
Spanish midfielder Rodri received the Golden Ball award, given to the best overall player in the tournament. Although he didn’t record a single goal or assist in Spain’s eight games, he completed more passes, covered more distance and had more player involvements than any other player at this year’s tournament.
He also played a key role in severely limiting Messi’s touches during Spain’s 1-0 win.
Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon and defender Pau Cubarsi were named winners of the Golden Glove Award and the FIFA Best Young Player Award respectively. The pair each played critical roles in La Roja, conceding just one goal – a record for a World Cup-winning team – and allowing just 10 shots on target in eight games during this World Cup.
Simon finished with seven clean sheets, two more than the previous record for a single World Cup. The 29-year-old’s nine career World Cup clean sheets are one short of the record of 10 shared by former France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez and former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.
These three awards are decided by FIFA’s Technical Review Panel, made up of former professional players, coaches and analysts.
