Spanish striker Lamine Yamal, one of the stars of the World Cup in North America, celebrates his 19th birthday on Monday: at this age, only Brazilians Pelé and Ronaldo and Frenchman Kylian Mbappé have been crowned world champions, while others like Englishman Harry Kane had not yet played in any World Cup tournament.

If Spain beats France on Tuesday in the semi-finals and succeeds in adding a second star to their jersey next Sunday, their star and Barcelona player will become the fourth youngest player to win the World Cup, at 19 years and 6 days, tying with Brazilian Coutinho who achieved that in 1962.

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He will then be preceded only by Brazilians Pelé (17 years and 249 days in 1958), Ronaldo (17 years and 298 days in 1994) and Italian Giuseppe Bergomi (18 years and 174 days in 1982). So where were each of Mbappé, Argentine Messi, and Kane, stars of the other three teams still in contention, at the same age? Kylian Mbappé 2018: The new 'king'. After his brilliance with Monaco and before his move to Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappé became the second youngest player to score in a World Cup final after Pelé. He achieved this in Moscow, at 19 years and 207 days, during France's second title in 2018, which was secured by a 4-2 win over Croatia. With his impressive performance against Argentina in the round of 16 (two goals and an assist), Mbappé capped the victory in the final by scoring France's fourth goal in Croatia's net, becoming the new global star.

Lionel Messi 2006: Limited appearances. The 2006 World Cup in Germany was Messi's first and he was only eight days away from turning 19 when he scored a goal against Serbia and Montenegro, but coach José Pekerman gave him only limited minutes. With Juan Román Riquelme, Maxi Rodríguez, Hernán Crespo, and Carlos Tevez in the forward line, the young Messi struggled to establish his place, even remaining on the bench throughout Argentina's exit match against Germany on penalties in the quarter-finals.

Harry Kane 2012: Late start. At age 19, Kane was playing in the European Under-19 Championship in 2012. The English striker did not make his international debut for the senior team until March 27, 2015, when he was 21, in a qualifier for Euro 2016. At age 24, he participated in the 2018 World Cup in Russia as team captain. Although England finished the tournament in fourth place after losing the third-place match to Belgium (0-2), Kane won the Golden Boot with six goals. Four years later in Qatar, the 'Three Lions' exited in the quarter-finals against France, in a match where he missed a penalty.