Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo stole the spotlight with record-breaking performances, while Erling Haaland fired Norway into the knockout stage on a thrilling day of World Cup action on June 23. Algeria also kept their qualification hopes alive with a comeback victory over Jordan as the race for the last-16 places gathered pace.
Highlights of match on June 23
France vs Iraq
Kylian Mbappe marked his 100th cap by scoring two more World Cup goals on Monday as France eased to a 3-0 win over Iraq in a game delayed by two hours by a severe storm.
Mbappe opened the scoring in the 14th minute and added another nine minutes into the second half, with last year's Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele getting the other goal for the tournament favourites in Philadelphia.
Mbappe moved to 16 World Cup goals in his career, two behind Lionel Messi who set a new record of 18 goals by netting twice for Argentina against Austria earlier on Monday.
Norway vs Senegal
Erling Haaland scored twice as Norway booked their place in the World Cup knockout rounds with a 3-2 victory over Senegal on Monday.
Manchester City striker Haaland's double and a Marcus Holmgren Pedersen sealed victory for Norway in the Group I game, with Ismaila Sarr scoring twice for Senegal.
Algeria vs Jordon
Algeria stormed back to beat Jordan 2-1 and eliminate the World Cup debutants with a match to spare on Monday thanks to second-half goals from substitute Nadhir Benbouali and Amine Gouiri.
Benbouali's header cancelled out Nizar Al-Rashdan's first-half opener and Gouiri poked home in a goalmouth scramble eight minutes from time to revive Algeria's campaign after their opening 3-0 loss to Argentina.
The victory put Algeria level with Austria on three points in Group J, while ensuring defending champions Argentina will go through to the next round as group winners following their 2-0 win over the Austrians earlier on Monday.
Portugal vs Uzbekistan
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score in six World Cups and Portugal’s all-time leading marksman at the global finals with two goals in Tuesday’s emphatic 5-0 Group K win over Uzbekistan in Houston.
The 41-year-old had failed to find the back of the net in his previous 10 games in major finals, but, allowed time and space in the box, was deadly in punishing Uzbekistan as he took his overall World Cup tally to 10 goals, moving past Eusebio on Portugal's all-time list.
Ronaldo's first in the sixth minute was a neat finish from six yards at the near post as he converted Joao Cancelo’s low cross, before placing a perfect pass from Bruno Fernandes into the far corner.
Nuno Mendes scored a superb free kick in between those two strikes, while the unfortunate Uzbekistan goalkeeper Abduvohid Nematov fumbled the ball into his own net and Rafael Leao added a late fifth in front of a full house of 68,777 fans.
