England survive their own generosity, beat France 6-4 in an absolute rollercoaster for third place

[Karen_37]

England nearly authored the most spectacular collapse in World Cup history on Saturday, blowing a 4-0 lead against France in the third-place playoff before hanging on to win 6-4 in Miami, the highest scoring World Cup match since 1982. Just three days after blowing a 1-0 lead to Argentina in the semifinal, England once again found a way to make an easy night dramatic

The Three Lions raced out to what looked like a comfortable victory, with Declan Rice on the scoresheet and Bukayo Saka scoring twice in the first half alone to put England 4-0 up. Then Kylian Mbappe happened. The Frenchman scored twice as part of a stunning three goal outburst to open the second half, turning a blowout into a genuine crisis inside a matter of minutes. Mbappe's brace pushed him to 21 World Cup goals for his career, moving him past Lionel Messi for the most in tournament history, and made him the first player to reach double figures at a single World Cup since Germany's Gerd Muller in 1970

France smelled blood and kept coming, working both wings and quick combinations through the middle, missing chance after chance that could have leveled the score completely. England's back line hung on by a thread, and this time Thomas Tuchel resisted the urge to load up on defensive substitutes, the exact decision that had been blamed for the collapse against Argentina, instead sweating out every cross and shot for the rest of the half

Deep into stoppage time, Djed Spence won a penalty that effectively saved England's night. Saka stepped up and calmly slotted it home for his hat trick, and England escaped with third place, their best World Cup finish in years, though their nerves weren't quite done being tested, conceding once more in the closing moments before Jude Bellingham added a final goal just to make an already chaotic scoreline even messier

England top France 6-4 in thriller, avoid another shocking World Cup collapse: Kylian Mbappe sets goal recordwww.cbssports.com

[SpikeDudley]

Blowing a 1-0 lead to Argentina and then nearly blowing a 4-0 lead three days later is such a specific and painful pattern for England, someone needs to have a word about game management

[Abbie92]

Mbappe going past Messi for the all time World Cup scoring record in a losing effort in a meaningless third place game is such a strange context for a historic moment

[Dom9]

Saka scoring a hat trick including the winning penalty in stoppage time after nearly watching a four goal cushion evaporate deserves way more headlines than it's going to get given this was only the bronze match

[Trinity49]

Tuchel actually resisting the defensive substitute urge this time after getting torched for it against Argentina shows he learned something, even if the back line still nearly paid for it anyway

[Andy99]

First player to hit double figures at a single World Cup since Gerd Muller in 1970 is an absurd stat to produce in a third place playoff of all matches

[HeartbreakKidStuart26]

Conceding again in the closing seconds after Saka's penalty saved them and then scoring themselves through Bellingham right after is such a perfectly chaotic way to cap off a match this unhinged

[Grace24]

Highest scoring World Cup game since 1982 for what is essentially a dead rubber match is wild, imagine how good the final needs to be to follow this up

[Golden Dan]

Third-place playoffs are supposed to be goal-fests, but this was next level. England up 4-0 and then somehow letting France back to 4-4 is the kind of thing that haunts you for decades. The fact they scraped it out 6-4 in extra time says everything about this squad's mentality. A year ago, they'd have folded. Now they're finding ways to win even when playing like absolute idiots for 45 minutes. The Saka penalty was ice-cold too. You could see the weight of the missed chances lifting the second that hit the net.

[FrostDrifter]

Tuchel getting criticized for defensive subs against Argentina and then apparently learning from it is a nice narrative arc. Against France, he kept the attacking shape even when France started coming back. That's either stubbornness or confidence - hard to tell which, but it worked. The gamble nearly backfired when France equalized, but you can't fault the approach. Sometimes you have to trust your players to see it out. Whether that's sustainable against better teams in the final is another question entirely.

[Xavi]

I enjoyed that game immensely

[MessiGOAT48]

Can we talk about how France defended this? Conceding six in a World Cup match, even in a dead rubber, is staggering. They looked like they'd already booked their flights home. The midfield offered zero protection, and every time England attacked, it felt like a penalty was coming. That's not just tired legs - that's a mental switch that got flipped off. The kind of performance that makes you wonder if the tournament got to them more than they admitted. England's finishing was clinical, but France made it far too easy.

[HiggsField29]

The Bellingham goal in extra time felt like the exclamation point on a match that had everything. After all the drama, the comebacks, the near-collapses, one player just decides it's done. That's the mark of a team that's learned to finish games. England's had issues with that in past tournaments - the inability to close things out, the self-sabotage. This time, they actually did it. The celebration was more relief than joy, which tells you everything. Three more days to recover, then the real test. If they play like this against the final opponent, it'll be another classic. If they play like the first 45 minutes against France, it'll be a very different story.

[Ria3]

That Gerd Muller stat is absolutely mental. First player to hit double figures at a single World Cup since 1970? In a third-place match? The context is bizarre, but the achievement is still ridiculous. These are defenses that have played six games already, legs are gone, and this one guy is just running riot. The kind of thing you'd expect in a 90s arcade game, not an actual World Cup. The record books will note it regardless of the opponent quality.

[Quarry]

Tangent: highest scoring World Cup game since 1982 in what's essentially a consolation match is wild. Imagine if this energy had been in the semi-finals. The quality was all over the place - defending was optional, goalkeepers were spectators - but as entertainment, you couldn't ask for more. Ten goals, comebacks, penalties, late drama. It's the kind of match that gets remembered not for its importance but for its chaos. The purists will hate it, but the neutrals loved every minute.