Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and the records that could be broken at this World Cup

In what is already a never-seen-before 48-team tournament with 104 games, there are more chances at records at this World Cup. In the opening round of matches, Kylian Mbappe already became France's record men's goalscorer, and Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo became the first people to play in six World Cups (Mexico Guillermo Ochoa has been selected for his sixth but has yet to feature). Then there's the World Cup's oldest manager, a record that was broken three times during the tournament's first four days through Hugo Broos (Australia, 74) and Miroslav Koubek (Czech Republic, 74) before Dick Advocat (Curacao, 78) made it his own. Here are some more pieces of men's World Cup history to look out for... Lionel Messi After a hat-trick against Algeria, Messi, 38, is now the joint top-scorer in men's World Cup history, tying Germany's Miroslav Klose on 16 goals. Two goals behind is Mbappe, who aged 27 surely has plenty more World Cups in him. If Messi finds the net in his next two games, he will become the first player to score in seven successive matches at the World Cup. Brazil's Jarzinho (all in 1970) and Germany's Just Fontaine (all in 1958) have both scored in six games in a row. Depending on which record books you follow, Messi is also either the World Cup's joint top-assist leader post-1966 with Diego Maradona on eight, or one behind Fritz Walter on nine if trusting pre-1966 statistics. A record he definitely holds is as World Cup appearance leader, having played in 27 games and counting -- two ahead of Lothar Matthaus (Germany) on 25. Cristiano Ronaldo is not far behind, having played in 24 World Cup matches, but he would need Portugal to reach four rounds further than Argentina to overtake Messi if they both play every game. What will mean the most to Messi is lifting the World Cup trophy again. If he does, he will be the first captain to win the World Cup twice. Cristiano Ronaldo Ronaldo has a chance at history himself. If he scores during this tournament, he will become the first player to score at six World Cups. His chances of getting on the scoresheet didn't look promising in Portugal's 1-1 draw with DR Congo but his next chance is against Uzbekistan on Tuesday. Messi has featured in six World Cups but didn't score at his second, South Africa in 2010, when Argentina lost in the quarterfinals to Germany. Appearance records These days, it seems like managers have shorter spells in charge, so it may be surprising to learn that Didier Deschamps can manage a record number of games as a head coach at World Cups if France reaches the semifinals. Having managed 20 World Cup matches including France's 3-1 win over Senegal, Deschamps can move ahead of German coach Helmut Schon, who leads with 25 games in charge. Of his 20 matches, Deschamps has managed 16 victories and needs just one more for the most wins at a World Cup by a manager. Only one of the three men who have won the World Cup as a player and manager, Deschamps is coaching at his fourth edition of the tournament. His team reached the quarterfinals in 2014, won in 2018, and got to the final in 2022. Could we also see Thomas Tuchel (German but managing England), Carlo Ancelotti (an Italian in charge of Brazil) or indeed Mauricio Pochettino (the United States' Argentinian coach) become the first foreign manager of a team to win a World Cup? On the topic of Brazil, Germany could overtake them for the most World Cup games by nation and are currently trailing by two. Goals scored Mbappe already overtook Olivier Giroud as France's all-time goalscorer on 58 goals, but he is also only one goal away from having scored the most goals in the World Cup knockout stages. The Frenchman, who scored a hat-trick in the Qatar 2022 final, is on eight knockout goals, tied with Ronaldo (Brazil) and Leonidas (Brazil). With an increase to 104 games, we will surely see more goals scored at the World Cup than ever before. The total to beat is from Qatar 2022, when 172 goals were scored. This was just one goal ahead of the 171 scored in 2014 and 1998. Harry Kane is likely to chip in with a few of these. The 2018 Golden Boot winner started his tournament with a brace against Croatia and now needs just one more goal to reach 11 and top Gary Lineker as the highest-scoring Englishman at World Cups. By around the round of 32 or the round of 16, we will see the 3,000th World Cup goal, according to Opta. Clean sheets Goalkeepers Manuel Neuer and Thibaut Courtois are closing in on the record for World Cup clean sheets. However, neither achieved a clean sheet in their opening game. Neuer's Germany beat Curacao 7-1 and Courtois' Belgium drew 1-1 with Egypt. Neuer had been retired from international football since the 2024 Euros, and his inclusion as Germany's starting keeper was a last-minute decision by Julian Nagelsmann after Oliver Baumann started all qualifying games. Appearing in his fifth edition of the tournament aged 40, Neuer could yet add to his legacy.