Team Melli legend and former Head Coach is being mentioned repeatedly in the media following the recent goal-scoring spree of Lionel Messi in the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Messi with five goals scored is on par with Kylian Mbappe, the French prodigy as the best scorer of the tournament. The Paris Saint Germain teammates will meet on the final on Sunday for their respective countries Argentina and France. With those 5 goals, Messi is fast advancing to overtake Ali Daei in second place among the World’s Top international scorers.
Messi is 13 goals short of Ali Daei’s tally and 22 short of Ronaldo, the record holder. With Messi having a few more years of his best football still in the tank, he is well-placed to overtake Daei and Ronaldo.
| Rank | Player | Country | Goals | Caps | Ratio | First cap | Last cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo |  Portugal |
118 | 196 | 0.6 | 20 August 2003 | 10 December 2022 |
| 2 | Ali Daei |  Iran |
109 | 148 | 0.74 | 6 June 1993 | 21 June 2006 |
| 3 | Lionel Messi |  Argentina |
96 | 171 | 0.56 | 17 August 2005 | 13 December 2022 |
| 4 | Mokhtar Dahari |  Malaysia |
89 | 142 | 0.62 | 5 June 1972 | 19 May 1985 |
| 5 | Ferenc Puskás |  Hungary |
84 | 85 | 0.99 | 20 August 1945 | 14 October 1956 |
| Sunil Chhetri |  India |
84 | 131 | 0.64 | 12 June 2005 | 27 September 2022 | |
| 7 | Ali Mabkhout |  United Arab Emirates |
80 | 109 | 0.73 | 15 November 2009 | 16 November 2022 |
| 8 | Godfrey Chitalu |  Zambia |
79 | 111 | 0.71 | 29 June 1968 | 12 December 1980 |
| 9 | Hussein Saeed |  Iraq |
78 | 137 | 0.57 | 5 September 1976 | 3 March 1990 |
| Robert Lewandowski |  Poland |
78 | 138 | 0.57 | 10 September 2008 | 4 December 2022 | |
| 11 | Pelé |  Brazil |
77 | 92 | 0.84 | 7 July 1957 | 18 July 1971 |
| Neymar | 77 | 124 | 0.62 | 10 August 2010 | 9 December 2022 |