By Belize Live News Staff: Nobody wanted to play it. Now nobody will forget it. England and France turned Saturday’s supposed consolation match into a ten-goal fever dream, with England winning 6-4 to take third place at the World Cup in the highest-scoring game the tournament has seen in 44 years.
For 45 minutes, it was a massacre. Declan Rice struck in the third minute, Ezri Konsa added a second, and Bukayo Saka helped himself to two before the break, 4-0 at half-time, with France staring down the barrel of a historic embarrassment in Didier Deschamps’ farewell match as coach.
What followed was one of the great World Cup comebacks that almost was. Kylian Mbappé dragged France off the canvas with a goal in the 48th minute, Bradley Barcola made it 4-2, and when Mbappé struck again in the 66th, a full resurrection at 4-3 felt inevitable. France chased the equaliser and had chances to complete it, but Saka slammed the door with an 87th-minute penalty, his hat trick goal, and after Ousmane Dembélé’s late strike briefly reignited hope at 5-4, England answered in the same breath to finish it 6-4.
The record books took a beating. Per the Associated Press, the ten goals were the most ever in a third-place match and the most in any World Cup game since 1982. England secured their second-best finish in World Cup history, behind only 1966, and did so with captain Harry Kane watching rather than playing, his tournament closing on six goals.
Mbappé, meanwhile, achieved immortality in defeat. His two goals lifted him to 22 career World Cup goals, one past Lionel Messi as the all-time leading scorer in the tournament’s history, and pushed his golden boot count to ten for this World Cup, two clear of Messi’s eight. By ESPN’s math on FIFA’s tiebreakers, the little magician now needs a hat trick, or two goals plus an assist, against Spain today to steal the boot back at the last.
Which means Saturday’s chaos was really Sunday’s appetiser. The bronze medals are handed out, the records are reset, and at 1:00 p.m. Belize time, Messi walks out for the last World Cup match of his life with one more mountain placed deliberately in his path.
What a weekend of football, Belize. Were you watching the ten-goal madness, and does Messi have one final miracle in him today? Let us know in the comments.
