England holds on to defeat France 6-4 in wild World Cup third place match

Bukayo Saka scored three goals to lead England to a 6-4 win over France for third place in the World Cup, while Kylian Mbappé surpassed Argentina’s Lionel Messi’s career World Cup scoring record and took the lead in the Golden Boot race with a pair of second-half goals on Saturday.

It was the highest-scoring World Cup game since Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982, and the 10 goals were the most in a third-place match.

Saka had goals in the 37th minute and first-half stoppage time, then added his third on a penalty in the 87th for his second career hat trick with England. The Three Lions also got goals from Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa to build a 4-0 halftime lead and secure their best finish in a World Cup since winning their only title in 1966.

England’s Jude Bellingham capped the scoring in the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time, his seventh goal of the tournament.

Mbappé reached 22 career goals, one more than Messi. The star striker finished this World Cup with 10 goals, two ahead of Messi in the race for the Golden Boot, which is awarded to the tournament’s top scorer.

Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé also scored for France.

England fell to Argentina 2-1 in the semifinals earlier this week in heartbreaking fashion. England struck first in the match, but Argentina, behind Messi’s brilliance, rallied to victory. France, meanwhile, was defeated 2-0 by Spain in its uninspiring semifinal performance. 

Argentina and Spain will face Sunday in the final. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. ET.