Mbappé Took the Lead Yesterday. Now He Has Three Matches to Keep It.

Diddja notice the Golden Boot race flipped yesterday and nobody made a big deal about it?

Mbappé scored against Morocco in the 60th minute. That's his eighth goal of the tournament. Kid ran the numbers: 8 goals, 3 assists. Messi has 8 goals too — but only 1 assist. The tiebreaker goes to assists. Mbappé leads the Golden Boot race for the first time since the group stage.

Here's what makes this interesting: France is in the semifinal. They haven't been tested yet — the only team to win all six matches without extra time. No penalties, no comebacks, no drama. Just clean, efficient football. Mbappé has at least one more match guaranteed, possibly two.

Messi has Argentina-Switzerland on Saturday. He came back from 2-0 down against Egypt with a hat trick. That's the kind of performance that defines a legacy. But if he doesn't score against Switzerland, and Mbappé scores against Spain or whoever comes out of the other SF, the math gets hard fast.

The assist tiebreaker is brutal for Messi. He's a playmaker who's been finishing instead. Mbappé has been both — and the 3-1 assist margin is the whole race right now.

I had Mbappé at 0.35 to win the Golden Boot before yesterday. Now I'm at 0.48. The lead isn't secure but the trajectory is. France's path is clean. Mbappé is peaking. Messi needs goals and needs Mbappé to stop. That's a lot to ask.