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 searching for his first Golden Boot while also trying to guide Argentina to a second consecutive World Cup. Messi and Argentina defeated Mbappe and France on penalties in the 2022 final in Qatar.
But Argentina could not muster a shot on target against Spain’s stalwart defence and had just two total shots, both coming late in the match. Messi went scoreless for the third match in a row. He had collected eight goals across the three group-stage matches, the round of 32 and the round of 16.
At 27, Mbappe already can 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 matches. Messi — the first to break German Miroslav Klose’s career record early in the tournament before Mbappe caught up — stayed at 21 and may have played his final World Cup match on Sunday at 39 years old.
Eight of Mbappe’s 10 goals this summer came in braces. 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.
Aside from Mbappe, it did not come as a surprise that the rest of the awards went to Spanish players after their remarkable run to the country’s second World Cup title.
Spain midfielder Rodri collected the Golden Ball award, given to the best overall player in the tournament. While he did not record a single goal or assist in Spain’s eight matches, he completed more passes, covered more distance and had more player involvements than any other player in this year’s tournament.
He also played a key role in heavily 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 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 only 10 shots on target in eight matches 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.
Those three awards are decided by FIFA’s Technical Study Group, made up of former professional players, coaches and analysts.
