England beat France 6-4 in chaotic third-place World Cup playoff on Saturday in Miami, making it the Three Lions team’s best finish at a World Cup since 1966.
England’s ‘bronze final’ – formerly known as the third-place play-off – against France descended into chaos with 10 goals, six of them for the Three Lions. And there could easily have been more. Bukayo Saka also became just the second England player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup knockout match, after Sir Geoff Hurst in the 1966 final. The only other player to score a treble versus France in the competition was Pele in 1958.
They did so in the highest-scoring World Cup third-place match ever, surpassing France 6-3 West Germany in 1958, and by beating a side higher in Fifa’s rankings at a World Cup for the first time since the win over Argentina in 2002.
The first half saw Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa score before Bukayo Saka added a rapid-fire brace, completing his hat-trick from the spot three minutes from time.
After the restart, France got going as Kylian Mbappe’s brace made him the all-time leading goalscorer at the tournament, as Bradley Barcola contributed another to make it 4-3 before conceding a penalty which Saka converted.
An occasion that started with boos for the heavily-criticised manager Thomas Tuchel ended in a breathless bronze medal, with the wounds from Wednesday’s semifinal collapse to Argentina still raw.
