Bukayo Saka hat trick as England top France in wild third-place match

Bukayo Saka recorded a hat trick and Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and Jude Bellingham also scored goals as England produced a wild and crazy 6-4 victory over France in the World Cup third-place match on Saturday at Miami Gardens, Fla.

France star Kylian Mbappe scored twice to raise his total to 10 goals in this World Cup and 22 in his World Cup career. The former gives him a two-goal lead in the Golden Boot competition and the latter surpasses the career mark held by Argentina's Lionel Messi (21).

Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele also scored goals for Les Bleus.

Both teams fell into the third-place match after semifinal losses earlier in the week. England blew a late lead in a 2-1 loss to Argentina and France was roundly outplayed in a 2-0 loss to Spain.

It looked like another long day for France after they dug a 4-0 halftime deficit before the match switched from one-sided to pinball-like excitement.

Mbappe steered France's comeback bid by putting France on the board in the 48th minute when he received a pass from Michael Olise and sent a left-footed shot past England goalkeeper Dean Henderson.

Six minutes later, the French added another as Barcola drilled a right-footed shot past Henderson.

Mbappe was back it in the 66th minute when he sent a left-footed shot into the corner of the net. That tally made him the first player to score 10 goals in a single World Cup since Germany's Gerd Muller in 1970.

Later, Malo Gusto was called for a foul in the box with a takedown of England's Djed Spence in the 85th minute.

Bellingham lined up to take the penalty kick but then ceded to Saka, who stood at the spot in the 87th minute and sent a left-footed grounder into the right corner for the hat trick to give the England a 5-3 lead.

The goal proved crucial as Dembele knocked a left-footed shot into the left corner of the goal in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time to make it a one-goal match.

But Bellingham put a lid on the match with a stellar drive down field and he navigated toward the goal and booted in a right-footed shot in the eighth minute of stoppage time. It was Bellingham's seventh goal of the World Cup.

England's first-half barrage began with Rice's goal two minutes, 14 seconds into the match, the second-fastest tally in the country's World Cup history.

Rice intercepted a soft pass by France's Desire Doue in the midfield and dribbled in and booted a hard right-footed shot past Mike Maignan.

Rice took a corner kick in the 18th minute and delivered a boot that Konsa headed inside the far post for a 2-0 lead.

The Three Lions scored again on Saka's goal in the 37th minute. Maignan stopped the initial shot by Marcus Rashford but was well out of the net. Saka took a rebound shot that hit off a defender. Rashford then had the ball and slid it over to Saka, who sent a left-footed shot off a defender close to the net and it caromed into the goal.

Saka scored again in the first minute of first-half stoppage time by sending a left-footed shot into the right corner of the net.

Henderson made five saves for England and Maignan had four stops for France.

--Field Level Media