A third-place match between France and England that some may have deemed pointless before kick-off turned into a 10-goal thriller. In one of the most thrilling games of the entire tournament, these two European giants produced a show for the 64,478 fans in Miami.
It truly was a tale of two halves, with England absolutely dominating the opening 45 minutes. Declan Rice opened the scoring just three minutes into the game. The England captain intercepted a poor pass from Doué near the halfway line before driving towards the France goal. From close to 25 yards out, Rice accurately found the bottom-right corner. Ezri Konsa doubled the lead in the 18th minute, heading in an in-swinging corner from Rice.
The domination for the Three Lions continued in the 37th minute with Bukayo Saka. The Arsenal star sent Marcus Rashford through on goal, but Mike Maignan saved the first effort and blocked Saka’s rebound. Rashford composed himself and set up Saka to smash home England’s third. Right before the half, Saka found himself on the scoresheet again. Eze noticed Saka making a run towards the edge of the box and played the ball to his winger. Saka took a great touch before skillfully finding the bottom-right corner.
France made four changes at the half and knew something needed to change to bring the match back. Just three minutes into the second half, Kylian Mbappe scored France’s first of the night. Upamecano tackled Watkins and played a great ball out to Olise. France’s main creator played a great pass to Mbappe, who managed to find the bottom-right corner.
Momentum continued in France’s favor with Bradley Barcola scoring a second for France just six minutes later. Mbappe found Barcola’s run behind the defense, with the French winger proving too swift for Konsa, firing a shot past Henderson at the near post. France’s third of the day came once again from their main man, Kylian Mbappe. It was a stunning goal from France, highlighted by Olise’s flick to Mbappe, who controlled the ball before firing past Henderson with his left foot.
With just minutes to go, England were awarded a penalty after Gusto fouled Spence in the box. Saka stepped up to the plate and scored his third of the night to complete his hat-trick. Somehow, that was not the end.
Six minutes into stoppage time, France scored yet again. Upamecano intercepted a pass from Rice, just as he did for France’s first goal, and played a ball through to Dembele. The PSG man fired in the shot with his left foot to bring France back down to a one-goal deficit. With France looking for a late equalizer once again, it was Jude Bellingham who had the final say. The Real Madrid star displayed remarkable composure as he dribbled past three French defenders in the box before scoring to make it 6-4. With seven goals, Bellingham now holds the record for the most goals scored by an England player in a single edition of the World Cup.
The grand finale of the World Cup is just a day away, with a star-studded matchup between Spain and Argentina in New Jersey.
