France and Argentina stayed at the top of world cup standings 2026 after both opened with wins on Tuesday, with Kylian Mbappe’s two goals driving France past Senegal 3-1. The holders and the runners-up from Qatar 2022 looked the sharpest among the 48 teams on day six, and France’s result added a record on top of the points.
Mbappe struck twice in the 3-1 victory, then moved beyond Olivier Giroud as France’s all-time top scorer. Bradley Barcola added the second goal off the bench, giving France a cleaner margin than the scoreline might suggest and putting immediate pressure on the rest of the field to match the pace set by the two finalists from 2022.
Mbappe passes Giroud
Mbappe’s second goal did more than settle France’s opener. It pushed him past Giroud on the national scoring list, a mark that belongs to a forward still early in his international story compared with the man he overtook. France needed the goals as much as the result, because the opening round was always going to sort contenders from everyone else in the 48-team field.
That sorting also brought Argentina into the same frame. Messi completed his first World Cup hat-trick on Tuesday, and Argentina won their opening game to keep pace with France at the top of the rankings. At his sixth World Cup, Messi still has magic in his boots.
Messi and Argentina respond
Argentina’s opening win mattered because it arrived on the same day France handled Senegal, leaving no room for another early leader to separate from the pack. No teams drew on day six, and that made the winning sides easier to measure against one another: France won 3-1, Argentina won, Norway and Austria also won, Germany beat Curacao 7-1, and Spain settled for a 0-0 draw with Cape Verde.
The cleanest read from Tuesday is simple. The two teams that set the standard in Qatar 2022 started this tournament the same way, and both did it with statement performances rather than narrow escapes. France have a scorer moving past a national icon; Argentina have Messi delivering a hat-trick at 38. That is the kind of opening that keeps the rankings at the top and leaves the rest of the field chasing the same level of control.
