England walked away with third place at the World Cup on Saturday after defeating France 6-4 in a high-scoring contest held in Miami — a match that also saw France captain Kylian Mbappe etch his name into the history books as the tournament’s all-time leading scorer with 22 goals. The game served as the farewell match for French head coach Didier Deschamps, who ends a 14-year tenure in charge after 185 total matches.
England built a commanding lead before halftime, putting four goals on the board through Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa, and a two-goal performance from Bukayo Saka. Saka then completed his hat-trick in the 87th minute by converting a penalty kick.
France mounted a response in the second half, with Mbappe finding the net twice and Bradley Barcola adding a third goal in between. Ousmane Dembele then pulled France to within two, scoring six minutes into stoppage time, but Jude Bellingham sealed the result with England’s sixth goal to close out the match.
Mbappe’s two goals brought his tally for this World Cup to 10, putting him atop the Golden Boot standings — two goals ahead of Argentina forward Messi, who is set to play in Sunday’s final against Spain. Mbappe also leads Messi by one in the all-time World Cup scoring records.
Midfielder Michael Olise set a new World Cup record with seven assists during the tournament, surpassing the previous mark of six set by Pele back in 1970.
France’s performance got off to a rocky start before Deschamps made defensive adjustments, bringing in Dayot Upamecano and Lucas Digne to stabilize a backline that had looked disorganized early on.
