Marcus Rashford has joined Kylian Mbappe, Enner Valencia and Cody Gakpo at the top of the World Cup goalscoring charts after netting a brace in England's three-goal victory over Wales.
Rashford scored twice for the Three Lions in his first start of the tournament with Phil Foden also on target. The Manchester United forward opened the scoring for Gareth Southgate's side with a swerving free-kick and added his second and England's third later in the half after Phil Foden's close finish had doubled their advantage.
The striker had previously been deployed from the bench in England's opening two games, netting as a substitute in the 6-2 victory over Iran while also appearing as a second-half replacement in the drab goalless draw against the United States on Friday night.
Rashford has now moved up to three goals for the tournament; He is England's leading goal scorer and has impressively netted in every 36 minutes he's been on the pitch. The forward has had just seven shots on goal – giving him an impressive shot conversion rate of 43 per cent with 86 per cent of his efforts on target. Indeed, Rashford's stunning performance has got everyone talking - and his odds on Betfair to win the Golden Boot have been slashed from 150/1 to 14/1.
The striker, who dedicated his first goal against Wales to a friend who recently passed away from cancer, is now joint top of the scoring charts. He sits alongside United target Gakpo of PSV, who has scored three goals in three appearances for the Netherlands, and Mbappe – who has bagged three goals in France's opening two games. Ecuador and Fenerbahce striker Valencia is also on three goals, but his nation's elimination means his tally will not increase further.
There are then 11 players who have scored two goals so far in the tournament and with three-quarters of the nations yet to play their third group game, it is likely that at least one will either equal or overtake those players with three goals to their name.
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Rashford's Manchester United teammate Bruno Fernandes is one of those stars after the playmaker bagged two goals in Portugal's two-goal victory over Uruguay on Monday night. Lionel Messi has also scored in each of Argentina's opening World Cup fixtures and will be eyeing this tournament's Golden Boot award – the gong given to the tournament's top scorer.
Bukayo Saka is the only other England international who has scored more than one goal so far this tournament, while Spain attacking duo Alvaro Morata and Ferran Torres have each netted twice ahead of their final group game against Japan this week, while Richarlison has scored two goals for Brazil.
Rashford's brace on Tuesday ensures that Manchester United players now have scored six goals this tournament (Casemiro has also scored alongside the Fernandes brace), which is the joint-highest total for any club alongside Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
