Ten goals of madness: England beat France 6-4 for third place

By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): They call the third-place match the game nobody wants to play. Somebody forgot to tell England and France, who produced one of the most extraordinary matches in World Cup history on Saturday, a ten-goal spectacle that England won 6-4 to claim the bronze, while Kylian Mbappé rewrote the record books even in defeat.

The numbers alone belong in a museum. As the Associated Press reported, it was the highest-scoring World Cup game since Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 back in 1982, and the ten goals were the most ever scored in a third-place match.

England did the early demolition. Declan Rice opened in just the third minute, Ezri Konsa doubled the lead, and Bukayo Saka struck twice, in the 37th minute and in first-half stoppage time, to send the Three Lions in at half-time an astonishing 4-0 up. With France facing humiliation in coach Didier Deschamps’ final game in charge, the rout looked on.

Then came the fightback. France roared out after the break, with Mbappé scoring twice either side of a Bradley Barcola goal to claw it back to 4-3 and set up a frantic finish. Les Bleus pushed for the equaliser, but Saka completed his hat trick from the penalty spot in the 87th minute, and though Ousmane Dembélé pulled another back in the dying moments, England struck once more at the death to seal a 6-4 win and their best World Cup finish since lifting the trophy in 1966. Notably, England did it all without captain Harry Kane, who did not feature, ending his tournament on six goals.

Mbappé’s consolation was historic. His brace took his tournament tally to ten goals and, as Euronews reported, carried him past Lionel Messi on the all-time World Cup scoring list with 22 career goals to Messi’s 21. It also stretched his golden boot lead to two, ten goals to Messi’s eight, meaning, per ESPN’s breakdown of FIFA’s tiebreakers, Messi needs a hat trick, or two goals and an assist, in today’s final against Spain to snatch the award back.

And that is the beauty of it: even the consolation game ended up pouring fuel on today’s main event. The bronze is England’s. The records are Mbappé’s. The stage, at 1:00 p.m. Belize time, belongs to Messi, Argentina, and Spain.

Did you catch the ten-goal madness, Belize? And can Messi answer Mbappé today? Comment below.

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