Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane have gotten their World Cup campaigns off to a flyer.
This will be the World Cup of Gladiators – says former Ireland striker Tony Cascarino.
The Boys in Green legend is convinced that it will be a shootout between the best players on the planet – with the top stars already serving up some scintillating performances.
France and Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe got the ball rolling with his brace against Senegal, and that was quickly followed by two for Norway and Manchester City star Erling Haaland.
Not content with just two goals, Lionel Messi got holders Argentina off to a flyer with a hat-trick against Mexico.
And Bayern Munich hitman Harry Kane was next to deliver the goods with a brace for England in their impressive 4-2 win against Croatia.
Messi, Mbappe and Haaland have all added two more goals each in their second group games, while Kane is in action on Tuesday night against Ghana,
The race for the Golden Boot looks set to be one of the major storylines of this year’s tournament.
And it’s one on which Cascarino is keeping a close eye.
“I came away from the first round of games thinking, is this going to be the World Cup of the gladiators, where all the big players turn it on,” Cascarino said, speaking on behalf of Tonybet to mark the launch of their World Cup Card Collection campaign where Irish customers can win up to €100,000.
“Haaland, knowing that Mbappe scored two, played the next game and scored two.
“Then Lionel Messi turned up for the later game and said, we’ll they got two, so I’ll go and get three.
“So I just keep thinking, is this going to be the gladiator World Cup where the big names all turn up?
“I’m really looking forward to how this pans out. Some of them are in the twilight of their careers, they are literally at the end of their careers and they are still scoring goals.”
The one letdown so far has been Cristiano Ronaldo, whose presence in the starting-11 appeared to be a hindrance to Portugal as they slumped to a 1-1 draw against DR Congo.
But the first round of games has Cascarino believing that it is going to be a World Cup to remember.
Who is he tipping for the top scorer prize?
“I do think whoever gets to the deepest stages of the tournament is going to have the best opportunity,” he replied.
“I always believe Haaland will get goals whenever he plays. Everywhere he has been, from club football to international football, his goal record is sensational.
“But I don’t see a semi-final team in Norway.
“I think the top goalscorer normally comes from one of the top four teams at the World Cup. I know that’s not always the case, but I do think Mbappe has got a golden chance to do it.
“Mbappe has got so much ability and pace, and he’s got Olise on the right playing the type of ball that only he can do, that gets Mbappe on the wrong side of the defender to score.
“I just think that’s another option for him to get goals.
“France are going to go deep, and I think Mbappe will be the one to beat in the goal stakes. I really do.”
Cascarino admits it’s tough watching Czechia in this summer’s World Cup.
Ireland looked set to progress to a play-off final clash with Denmark when they raced into a 2-0 lead in Prague in March, but Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men coughed up that advantage and went out on penalties.
According to the former Millwall, Chelsea, Celtic and Marseille striker, the Boys in Green would have given their fans plenty of reasons to cheer had they made it.
“We have to look at what the modern World Cup is, and that is nearly three teams progressing in every group qualifying,” he said.
“You are only losing 16 teams and there are all the rock-bottom teams going out, so for me I look at us and I’d go, I don’t think we’d come bottom of the group, we probably would have gotten third, so it’s how our goal-difference would have been.
“We would have been in Mexico’s group, so one thing that came out of their game (against South Africa) was that Mexico didn’t look good in midfield areas.
“It looked like there was an enormous amount of space in there to take advantage of.
“Now, we’re not blessed with incredible midfielders to take advantage of that, but I think we are good enough.
“In 1990 we didn’t win a game – we won a penalty shootout – and everyone went mad. It was brilliant.
“In 2002 we lost in a penalty shootout to Spain. That was harsh because I felt we played really well in that tournament. We were just really dreadful in that penalty shootout.
“1994, we had the emergence of players like Roy Keane and Denis Irwin, which was a massive plus, but I don’t think we generally had the legs all over the squad, and we weren’t as good.
“We had injuries too. Quinny did his knee, I got injured the week before the start of the tournament, so Tommy Coyne played up front, and Jack had to change his system slightly.
“I didn’t think we played as well as in 1988 and 1990.
“I’d like to think this time around we’d have gotten out of the group to the last-32, but I don’t think we’ve got enough quality to go much deeper than that.
“That would have sent Ireland mad anyway! We’d have had parties for that.”
You must be logged in to post a comment Login