Day 7 Briefing: Messi, Mbappé and Haaland all land first blows

The tournament's first heavyweight day landed exactly as billed: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland all scored, and none of their teams blinked. The late match also matters: Austria's 3-1 win over Jordan means Group J already has a clean split between two three-point teams and two zero-point teams before Argentina vs. Austria next week. 1

FIFA's official fixtures page also lists the same four next fixtures after the completed France, Norway, Argentina and Austria matches. 3

1. Messi has put the Golden Boot race on fast-forward. His hat trick against Algeria made it 16 career World Cup goals, level with Miroslav Klose's record, and it came before Argentina had to overextend itself. That is a dangerous combination: minutes managed, record matched, three points banked. 5

2. France still have a first-half problem. Senegal hit the post before half-time, and ESPN's France report said Senegal outshot France 5-1 before the break. France then outshot Senegal 10-1 in the second half and won 3-1. That ceiling is obvious; the slow start is also real. 6

3. Norway are not just Haaland. Haaland's brace will get the clips, but Norway also had 61% possession, 5 shots on goal and a third goal from centre-back Leo Østigard before the late own goal. Group I now has two favorites with different strengths: France's individual match-winners and Norway's blunt, structured attack. 7

If you only watch one match today, make it England vs. Croatia at 4 p.m. ET. Portugal-DR Congo has the Ronaldo hook, but England-Croatia is the better early test of a contender's floor: can England control a match against a team that still knows how to slow tournaments down?