The third-place finishers saw only goal after goal at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. One play after another. The two European powers, knocked out of the championship race by Argentina and Spain respectively in the semi-finals, were looking for consolation in the match.
Thomas Tuchel’s England disrupted France’s defense from the start of the match. Declan Rice gave England a 1-0 lead from outside the box just 3 minutes into the game. In the 18th minute, Declan Rice headed in a corner kick to make it 2-0.
Before the end of the first half, Bucayo Saka took advantage of the weakness of the French defense and scored two consecutive goals in the 37th and 45th minutes. As a result, Three Lions went into the break with a 4-0 lead.
Outgoing coach Didier Deschamps made four changes in the French dugout after conceding 4 goals after the break. After that, the picture of the match changed completely. Kylian Mbappe scored France’s first goal in the 47th minute. He beat Lionel Messi to win the Golden Boot with that goal. Young winger Bradley Barcola reduced the deficit to 4-2 with a superb finish in the 53rd minute. Mbappe scored his second goal of the game in the 65th minute to bring France back to 4–3, making him the top scorer in World Cup history.
England coach Tuchel dropped star midfielder Jude Bellingham to regain control of the match. In the 86th minute, England received a penalty for a foul inside the box. Bukayo Saka completed a hat-trick from the penalty spot to give England a 5-3 lead and almost dash the French side’s hopes of a comeback.
After the scheduled 90 minutes, the match escalated into extra time. France’s Ousmane Dembele scored in 90+5 minutes of injury time. However, England’s Jude Bellingham scored the last goal of the game just two minutes later (90+7 minutes). England left the field with a historic 6-4 goal victory at the referee’s final whistle.