A regret? 32-year-old Kane didn't play! Gave up chasing the World Cup Golden Boot; 73 goals in a single season still falls short of Messi's miracle.

In the World Cup third-place match that concluded on July 19 Beijing time, England beat France 6-4 to secure third place for the first time, marking their best World Cup performance in nearly six decades. In this game, 32-year-old England captain Harry Kane did not play, thus missing the opportunity to vie for the Golden Boot.

Possibly because of the high energy expended in the semi-final, or to offer chances to England's bench players, both Kane and Bellingham did not start the match.

In the second half, Bellingham came on as a substitute, but Kane remained on the bench for the entire game, effectively giving up on the race for the World Cup Golden Boot. Kane also largely missed out on the chance to win the World Cup Golden Ball award.

Imagine if Kane had started and played the full 90 minutes like Mbappé. Given that both teams hardly defended, and even teammate Saka scored a hat-trick, Kane might have had a real opportunity to equal or even surpass Mbappé's goal tally if he had played.

With Kane not playing in this match, his season for both club and country has now come to an end. This season, Kane made 65 appearances across all competitions, scoring 73 goals and providing 8 assists, averaging one goal involvement every 73 minutes.

He thus surpassed Gerd Müller's 72 goals (from the 1972-1973 season) and now trails only Messi's 82 goals from the 2011-2012 season. In the 2011-12 campaign, Messi made 69 appearances for club and country, scoring 82 goals and adding 34 assists.

Considering Kane is already 32, it seems unlikely he will ever be able to challenge Messi's incredible record again.