England completely dominated the first half, racing to a commanding 4-0 lead after goals from Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and Bukayo Saka.
By Kehinde Okeowo
England on Saturday defeated France 6-4 in an epic 2026 World Cup third-place play-off at Miami Stadium.
Both the Three Lions and Les Bleus made seven changes each for the encounter; while Toney, Saka and Rashford all started for England, Didier Deschamps retained Kylian Mbappé in his starting line-up.
England opened the scoring as early as the 3rd minute after Declan Rice won the ball back on the halfway line and drove forward before drilling a shot into the bottom right corner.
They doubled their advantage 15 minutes later when Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa rose highest in the box and flicked Rice’s corner into the net.
Bukayo Saka added a third in the 38th minute to put Thomas Tuchel’s side 3-0 up after profiting from an assist from Marcus Rashford.
Eberechi Eze then played in Saka, who allowed the ball to run across his body before firing it into the corner for his brace.
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In the second half, France stepped up and reduced the deficit after Michael Olise slipped a ball through to Mbappé, who side-footed it into the bottom corner.
The Real Madrid striker then turned provider when he found Bradley Barcola, who hammered the ball past Dean Henderson at his near post to make it 4-2 in the 55th minute.
Mbappé went on to score his brace after brilliantly combining with Olise to make it 4-3, taking a two-goal lead in the race for the Golden Boot.
The referee then pointed to the penalty spot after Malo Gusto was judged to have wiped out England defender Djed Spence in the box.
Saka stepped forward in the 88th minute and secured his hat-trick after sending the French goalkeeper the wrong way.
While it seemed the game would end 5-3 in favour of the Three Lions, Ousmane Dembélé and Jude Bellingham scored for France and England respectively in additional time to wrap up the intriguing tie at 6-4.
