Read 6 minutes28 Jun 2026 10:09 AM IST
It’s about goals, yet it’s not just about goals. Four of the sport’s greatest figures – Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, each different from the others – are locked in a Golden Boot race for the ages. Yet, the broader meaning, the symbolism, is different for everyone and intertwined with personal glory, identity, legacy and pure joy, which leads them to the ultimate destination. World Cup.
Lionel Messi leads the race with six strikes in three games. Messi-26 is different from all its previous iterations. Here is Messi with the crown, on his burning halo, freed from the shadow of Diego Maradona, and gliding with joie de vivre. From 17 to 34, he played with all his heart, love and loyalty to country on the line, his greatness in Argentina streaked by never-ending debate. He settled it all in Qatar, and in the US, he reacquainted himself with Messi who he lost when he first stepped onto the World Cup stage two decades ago.
This version is perhaps the most dangerous, when he walks freely, when he’s not weighed down by the weight of the world’s expectations, when critics aren’t waiting for a half-wrong, when he’s completely soaking in the moments he fails to fully enjoy. Yet, he is not much, intellect and wisdom, vision and intuition are obscure. Nobody sees football as a game of chess, a game of floating spaces and pieces, stripped of its essentials, its flourishing, as he sees the game. A title defense could make Argentina the only team to retain the trophy since Pele in 1962. But Messi will not put undue burden on himself.
Nothing would provoke him—not an heir pressing him to depose and seize the scepter, not his great rival pushing him into a second duel to settle the greatest dispute. Messi and Ronaldo’s paths were never meant to cross again, but here they are, from bitter rivals to the fierce rivalries that defined this century and now to two middle-aged men defying the passage of time. Ronaldo is 41, two years older than Messi, and will feel the ticking seconds more keenly than Messi. Not in the physical sense, but how his greatest dream has eluded him.
Also read | Ronaldo’s fading powers make Portugal a threat at the 2026 World Cup
Winning the World Cup isn’t about winning what Messi won; It’s not about legacies or legacies or simply stacking his mantelpiece with lost trophies. It could be about peace of mind, sleeping with a trophy that has given him sleepless nights. Messi has never felt the pressure that comes with the World Cup, the shadows of past greats, or the near games that come with it. Ronaldo is only shadowed by Ronaldo, a Ronaldo who refuses to leave without the last gold dome that football can offer him. He will consider himself a failure if he leaves the stage without a crown without engineering his country’s first World Cup win.
For all the goals, trophies and personal accolades, he knows his line will always be remembered – the man who brought the World Cup to Portugal. He could not do it alone, as he would have dared in his glorious youth. Although his athleticism has diminished, his spirit remains invincible. His biggest inspiration will be his biggest rival Messi and how he did it in Qatar. He is still behind in the race, but only in numbers. In the soul, it always exists. In a tournament lit up by braces, it might take just one game for him to overtake them all.
Ronaldo reacts after missing a chance during the World Cup Group K match against Colombia at Miami Gardens. (AP Photo/Lynn Sladky)
The World Cup was unkind to Ronaldo. Six of those players have given him only 10 goals. His spiritual successor at Real Madrid, Kylian Mbappe, is already 16 in three editions. A goal-scoring behemoth has already grown, and staggering numbers at that. For him, it’s not about numbers, but regaining the paradise he lost. He was only 18 when he won his first World Cup in Russia. He was 22 when he scored a hat-trick in the final, inspiring one of the greatest comebacks in the tournament’s history. At 26, he needs a World Cup to ensure he is the best player in the world. He has been nearing this summit for eight years, but has stumbled upon the final summit.
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Mbappe is arguably the best player in the world, but he needs a blockbuster World Cup to re-establish his image, revitalize himself and break away from the pack of pretenders after his up-and-down season with Real Madrid. If he can inspire France to a second victory, he could pave the way from a generational great to an all-time great. At the ridiculous age of 26.
Erling Haaland is only a year younger than him and may be his biggest challenger to the throne of greatness. But their aim is to get Norway back to the World Cup after 32 years, to show that they are an emerging powerhouse, that they are no longer sore losers, that they can win trophies in the future. The goals they score will define them and their teams, decide the winner of the Golden Boot and perhaps the destination of the World Cup. But it is a race with a wider meaning, like a play. or several plays in one play.