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