World Cup Day 10: Mbappe Breaks France's All-Time Scoring Record, Partey Barred from Canada, and Iraq Plays Its First World Cup Match in 40 Years

Title: World Cup Day 7: Mbappe Breaks France's All-Time Scoring Record, Partey Barred from Canada, and Iraq Plays Its First World Cup Match in 40 Years

Since the tournament kicked off June 10, eight of the first 16 matches have ended in draws — a record at this stage of any World Cup — and Tuesday delivered new storylines on and off the pitch.

Mbappe Rewrites France's Record Books

Kylian Mbappe scored multiple goals in France's Group A opener against Senegal on Tuesday, pushing his international tally to 58 and surpassing Olivier Giroud as France's all-time leading scorer, according to BBC Sport. He is 27 years old and appeared in just 99 games for Les Bleus to get there.

Giroud, working as a BBC pundit for the match, offered no bitterness. "Congratulations Kylian. I'm happy for him. It makes sense, it was expected. He will beat every single record," Giroud said, adding he believes Mbappe could eventually challenge Miroslav Klose's all-time World Cup record of 16 goals. Mbappe now stands at 14.

French football analyst Julien Laurens told BBC Sport that Mbappe is on track to become the greatest player in French history, though he placed Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini still ahead of him at this stage of his career. That caveat is worth keeping: records in counting stats don't automatically settle quality debates, and Mbappe himself acknowledged the team context matters more right now than individual milestones.

Partey Barred from Canada, Lied on Immigration Form

Thomas Partey will not play in Ghana's World Cup opener against Panama in Toronto on Wednesday. A federal court in Ottawa rejected Ghana's appeal to grant him temporary entry, according to BBC Sport.

The reason is straightforward and damaging: Partey told Canadian immigration officials he had never been arrested or charged with a crime. That was false. He faces seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in the UK, relating to allegations by four women between 2020 and 2022. He pleaded not guilty and is due to stand trial next year. No conviction has been entered.

The appeal ruling was explicit: there was "no serious issue in the underlying refusal" and Partey "failed to disclose that he is the subject of multiple criminal charges for sexual violence in the UK." Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada told BBC that hosting major events does not change Canadian immigration law and that every applicant is assessed individually.

The strongest argument on Partey's behalf is the one his legal team presumably relies on: he has not been convicted of anything, and many countries distinguish between criminal charges and criminal convictions for immigration purposes. Canada, however, applies a lower bar. Under Canadian immigration rules, as the court noted, "having reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has been committed is sufficient" to find an applicant inadmissible. The misrepresentation question is separate from the underlying charges and is what actually sealed the ruling.

Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz had previously said he had "no qualms" about selecting Partey. Asked Tuesday whether he had anything to add, Queiroz said: "My business is to play with the cards that I have in front of me." It's a focused response from a coach concentrating on tactics, but it doesn't address the misrepresentation finding.

Ghana still has two group games after Wednesday: against England in Boston on June 23 and Croatia in Philadelphia on June 27. Partey's visa status in the United States for those fixtures has not been confirmed publicly.

Iraq Ends a 40-Year Absence

Iraq's national team played in the World Cup on Tuesday for the first time since 1986, a span long enough that the majority of Iraq's current population has never seen the national team at this stage. Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest Iraqi diaspora communities in the United States, marked the occasion with visible celebration, according to NPR.

Waad Sana, who opened a soccer store in the Detroit area after watching Iraq compete in the 1986 World Cup, told NPR he has been fielding roughly 100 calls per day from fans seeking Iraqi national team jerseys. Zee Esho, a 34-year-old Iraqi-American who emigrated as a child, told NPR that soccer is the one thing that crosses the country's ethnic and religious divides: "When they play, you have people from the South, from the North, from the West, from the East, all gathering together."

The Draw Problem and What's Driving It

The record eight draws from 16 matches is the tournament's defining statistical story so far, as BBC Sport detailed. The previous high at the same stage was seven, set in 1974, 1982, and 1986. Monday alone produced four draws — the first time that has happened on a single World Cup day since June 15, 1958.

BBC Sport notes one structural explanation that holds up: the expanded 48-team format means only 16 of 48 teams are eliminated after the group stage. A team that draws all three group games still has a strong chance of advancing — according to Football Meets Data, three points with a -1 goal difference gives an 87.5% chance of progression. That changes incentive structures. Teams that might previously have pushed for a winner now have less reason to take risks trailing late.

Heat has also been a factor. Belgium drew with Egypt in Seattle in temperatures above 30°C at a lunchtime kickoff. Belgium coach Rudi Garcia refused to use heat as an excuse but acknowledged the dry playing surface was slowing the ball, telling reporters: "The grass really needed watering."

England Fans Facing Steep Prices Ahead of Wednesday's Opener

England opens against Croatia in Dallas on Wednesday. The UK Football Policing Unit told BBC Sport it expects between 12,000 and 15,000 England fans at each group stage game, with 89,000 World Cup tickets sold to fans from England across all 104 matches. The official England Supporters' Travel Club sold its full allocation of 4,022 tickets, but category-one resale tickets on FIFA's official site were listed as low as £1,310 as of the weekend, according to BBC Sport, with the asking price higher on premium categories.

By comparison, group stage tickets in Qatar in 2022 started at £68.50. England fans are paying multiples of that just to get in the door.