“I expect my record to be broken" – Klose senses the end of his World Cup feat

Lionel Messi of Argentina and France's Kylian Mbappé are hot on the tail of the 2014 World Cup winner from Germany.

Photo: Christof Koepsel/Getty Images.

Ex-Germany star Miroslav Close fears his World Cup goal-scoring record will soon be shattered during the current competition's cycle. – 

The 2026 edition kicked off yesterday with Mexico defeating South Africa, leaving Klose nervously looking over his shoulder. 

“I expect my record to be broken in this tournament," the 48-year-old coach of 1.FC Nürnberg told Süddeutsche Zeitung. 

"With more teams, there are more matches and therefore more opportunities to score goals. And I expect Argentina and France to go far. 

"That's perfectly fine, the record will be broken eventually anyway, Messi is welcome to do it. I'm a huge Messi fan, always have been. 

"Messi is a genius. And I also have a lot of respect for the Argentinian coach Scaloni. I played with him at Lazio

“He [Scaloni] showed me around the city a bit back then. We're good friends,” Klose explained with a wry smile etched across his face. 

With an impressive 16 goals in 24 World Cup appearances, the former Bayern Munich star still boasts the all-time top-scorer record. 

However, the aforementioned Messi already has 13 goals, while France's Kylian Mbappé has bagged 12 in his 14 World Cup outings.