Photo: VCG

Kylian Mbappe marked his 100th appearance for France with two goals on Monday as his side beat Iraq 3-0 in a FIFA World Cup Group I match that was suspended for nearly two hours due to a severe thunderstorm.

Mbappe scored either side of halftime as his double moved him past Brazil's Ronaldo on the all-time World Cup scoring list and level with Miroslav Klose on 16 goals, two behind new record-holder Lionel Messi.

The 2018 World Cup champion made an aggressive start on Monday and went ahead in the 14th minute when Mbappe collected the ball from Michael Olise outside the box and unleashed a powerful strike that bent Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil's glove and went into the net.

Nine minutes after the restart, Iraq repeated a costly mistake it had made against Norway as a wayward goal kick went straight to Ousmane Dembele, who selflessly squared for Mbappe to score.

Guo Yi, a Beijing-based football fan, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the duel between Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe for the World Cup all-time top scorer has become one of the standout narratives of this year's tournament.

Messi became the World Cup's all-time leading scorer after his brace lifted Argentina to a 2-0 win over Austria and secured their berth in the knockout stage. 

During Argentina's second group game on Monday, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner missed a penalty early on but redeemed himself in the first half by slotting home a left-footed shot. He found the net again in stoppage time, taking his World Cup tally to 18 goals to surpass German legend Klose and become the tournament's all-time leading scorer.

Notably, the missed penalty also saw Messi set an unwanted record: excluding penalty shootouts; he has now missed three of his seven penalties at the World Cup, the most penalties missed by any player in the tournament's history, the ­Xinhua News Agency reported. 

The expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams has given more nations the opportunity to showcase themselves on football's biggest stage. The new format has increased the likelihood of long-standing scoring records being broken. The eventual champions now have to play one more match than under the previous format, Guo said. 

Mbappe played down comparisons with Messi after France's victory over Iraq.

"Leo always scores goals and always will. So I am not looking at what he is doing. I'm just focusing on helping my team," Mbappe said.

France coach Didier Deschamps said his ­captain had every chance to rewrite the record books.

"Records are there to be broken," Deschamps said after Mbappe drew level with former record holder Klose on 16 World Cup goals.

Norway's Erling Haaland has emerged as a genuine challenger in the race. Norway's last World Cup appearance came in 1998, two years before Haaland was born, making this the striker's first World Cup campaign.

With more matches still to be played, the battle for the Golden Boot remains wide open, with Messi, Mbappe and Haaland all in the hunt.