NEW YORK, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The stars shone brightly in the World Cup on Tuesday with three of the big hitters getting off to a flying start and setting the race for this World Cup's Golden Boot alight.
First up was France striker Kylian Mbappe, freed from the shackles of the niggling injuries that dogged him in the final weeks of the season at Real Madrid.
Maybe Mbappe wasn't at his best in the first half of France's 3-1 win over Senegal, but he set the game on fire with his 66th minute opening goal as he showed an almost telepathic understanding to run onto Michael Olise's threatening pass, which found the only possible space between four defenders, before hooking the ball past Edouard Mendy.
TV cameras caught Mbappe in his captain's role, asking for calm, moments after Ibrahim Mbaye's 95th minute rocket briefly gave Senegal hope of snatching a draw. Just one minute later, his second goal of the game showed why you can never allow Mbappe time to collect, turn and look up in front of goal, as he rifled past Mendy from over 25 meters.
"Ruthlessly efficient," said France coach Didier Deschamps afterwards. With 14 goals in World Cup finals now to his credit and 58 goals for France in total - overtaking Olivier Giroud into the bargain - Mbappe is now just two goals behind the all-time World Cup record of 16 goals jointly held by Miroslav Klose and Lionel Messi.
Erling Haaland has literally waited all his life to score at the World Cup, but the 25-year-old lived up to the hype with two poacher's goals as Norway kicked off its first appearance in 28 years with a 4-1 thumping of Iraq.
A far-post slide between two defenders and a close-range finish after Iraq goalkeeper Jalal Hassan lingered too long over a back-pass and Haaland was off the mark.
Haaland now has 13 goals in his last 12 appearances for Norway and has his sights set on the Golden Boot.
And then out strolled Messi in his sixth World Cup to kick off with a hat-trick against Algeria - a curling shot from outside the penalty area, a tap in from a loose ball and a low trademark effort into the bottom corner.
The 38-year-old Argentine scored three goals to move level with Miroslav Klose's all-time record of 16 goals scored in World Cup finals. ■
