Thanks in part to a Bukayo Saka hat trick, England survives a comeback to defeat France in a 6-4 shootout to take third place, its best finish at a World Cup since winning it all in 1966.
This game was the equivalent of an NBA All-Star Game and the NFL Pro Bowl: lots of offense and barely any defense. Actually, it was more like a Sideman Charity Match, to be precise.
At first, it looked like the Three Lions would steamroll past Les Bleus in Didier Deschamps’ final game as manager of the French national team. Declan Rice got the party started in the third minute with a curling shot past France goalkeeper Mike Maignan, before an Ezri Konsa header and two goals from Saka gave England a 4-0 lead at the end of the first half.
Even though nothing was on the line except for national pride, Les Bleus were not gonna go down without a fight. French captain Kylian Mbappé scored France’s first goal three minutes into the second half past English goalkeeper Dean Henderson, before Bradley Barcola scored six minutes later to make it a 4-2 game in the first nine minutes of the half.
Mbappé scored again in the 66th minute of the game to make it 4-3, giving him 10 goals in the Golden Boot race, two above Lionel Messi, who plays tomorrow in the final against Spain. Even more dramatic, Mbappé is now the all-time top goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history with 22 goals, surpassing Lionel Messi once again.
It looked like the comeback had come to a halt in the 85th minute when the Three Lions received a penalty after Malo Gusto fouled Djed Spence in the box, before Saka stepped up and slotted it in the bottom right to complete his hat trick and give England a 5-3 lead.
But it ain’t over until the fat lady sings, and in the 6th minute of stoppage time, substitute Ousmane Dembélé fired a left-footed shot into the net to make it 5-4, giving Les Bleus a glimmer of hope. But two minutes later, substitute Jude Bellingham finally put the game to rest with a counterattack goal for his seventh goal of the tournament, the most by any English player in a single tournament, as England won in one of the most entertaining games in World Cup history.
Delivered by Sean Paul
