Image source: Alamy Stock Photo
Kylian Mbappe put himself into the record books and may have secured the Golden Boot at the 2026 World Cup, but his heroics could not prevent a 6-4 defeat at the hands of England in the Third Place Playoff in Miami on Saturday.
England got off to a flying start and claimed the lead as early as the third minute, with Declan Rice intercepting the ball near the half-way line before driving forward and stroking a shot into the bottom corner of the net from just outside the penalty area.
Rice went from scorer to provider for England’s second goal, whipping in a corner kick from the left flank which was glanced home by defender Ezri Konsa for a 2-0 lead in the 18th minute.
Just under 20 minutes later Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka combined in a sweeping counter attack which twice appeared to have been thwarted by the French defence, only for Saka to finally sweep home a left footed shot for a 3-0 advantage.
And the Three Lions incredibly made it 4-0 in injury time before the interval, with Eberechi Eze playing in Saka, who finished into the bottom corner of the net to wrap up a perfect first half for Thomas Tuchel’s team.
France made a quartet of changes at the start of the second half, introducing Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Lucas Digne and Dayot Upamecano, while England swapped out Rashford for Ollie Watkins.
And Les Bleus quickly pulled a goal back, with Michael Olise playing a perfectly-weighted ball for Kylian Mbappe, who drilled home his ninth goal of this World Cup to make it 1-4 in the 48th minute.
In the 54th minute France scored their second goal, with Barcola running onto a superb through ball from Mbappe before crashing the ball past goalkeeper Dean Henderson for 2-4.
Mbappe then scored a history-making goal in the 66th minute, playing a one-two with Olise before firing home to put France just one behind at 3-4. It was Mbappe’s 10th goal of the tournament and his 22nd career goal in the World Cup – a new record.
He also joined Sandor Kocsis (1954, 11 goals), Just Fontaine (1958, 13) and Gerd Muller (1970, 10) in an exclusive club of players who have hit double figures in a single World Cup.
An incredible comeback appeared to be on for France, but they were guilty of missing a couple of glaring chances before England were awarded a penalty in the 85th minute, as Malo Gusto tripped up Djed Spence. Saka took the spot kick in the 87th minute and beat goalkeeper Mike Maignan from 12 yards to complete his hat-trick and seal a win for the Three Lions.
There was still time for Dembele to fire home a left-footed shot six minutes into an additional seven, but it proved no more than a consolation, as England made it 6-4 even later after a brilliant solo goal from Jude Bellingham.
France (0) 4 (K. Mbappe 48’ 66’, B. Barcola 54’, O. Dembele 90+6’)
England (4) 6 (D. Rice 3’, E. Konsa 18’, B. Saka 37’ 45+1’ 87’ pen, Bellingham 90+8’)
France: M. Miagnan, M. Gusto (J. Kounde 90+1’), I. Konate (D. Upamecano 46’), M. Lacroix, T. Hernandez (L. Digne 46’), W. Zaire-Emery, A. Rabiot, M. Olise, R. Cherki (O. Dembele 46’), D. Doue (B. Barcola 46’), K. Mbappe
England: D. Henderson, J. Quansah (R. James 83’), E. Konsa, M. Guehi (T. Chalobah 90+3’), D. Spence, D. Rice, B. Saka, E. Eze (J. Bellingham 79’), M. Rogers, M. Rashford (O. Watkins 46’), I. Toney (E. Anderson 79’)
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