Didier Deschamps’ last game in charge of France ended with his nation’s worst placing in a World Cup campaign since 2014 as the team crashed to a disappointing but thrilling 6-4 defeat to England in Miami in the third-place playoff match.
The only highlight for Les Bleus saw Kylian Mbappé on the scoresheet twice to take pole position in the race for the Golden Boot with 10 goals, two more than Argentina’s Lionel Messi who will play in Sunday’s final. It also made him the highest scorer in a single
tournament since Gerd Müller scored 10 in 1970, recording the highest tally ever from a Real Madrid player and joining a club with only three other players to have reached double digits. If he does win the award, he would become the first player ever to win it at two World Cups.
Both teams opted to rotate heavily, England even more than France, but it was the Three Lions who started strongest with Declan Rice scoring from the edge of the box on three minutes before Ezri Konsa doubled the lead with a header from a corner on 18 minutes.
Mbappé then had an effort cleared off the line by Konsa after beating England goalkeeper Dean Henderson. It was one of few chances for the French as Bukayo Saka tapped in with the French defence pulled apart to make it 3-0 and then skipped past the French defence again to place a finish beyond Mike Maignan and make it 4-0 before half-time.
Real Madrid summer signing Ibrahima Konaté made his first start of the tournament and got his first minutes since the group stages. He was hooked at half-time, having won only one of four duels, committing two fouls and being dispossessed once in his own half.
Mbappé got his much-desired goal shortly after the break as the triple substitution at the break benefitted Les Bleus and he was able to add a composed finish to pull one back and Bradley Barcola added another as he broke down the left flank minutes later. The captain then got his second, the team’s third, with a poised finish inside the box just before the hydration break.
France looked like they could complete the most unlikely of comebacks, but their chances were put to bed as Saka completed his hat-trick by converting a penalty for England after Malo Gusto felled Djed Spence in the final minutes. It came as Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham gave up his shot to join Erling Haaland as the tournament’s third-top scorer by giving Saka the ball to take the spot-kick.
Ousmane Dembélé then added a fourth for France to wrap up the entertainment in injury time, and poetic justice allowed Bellingham his goal to take his tally for the tournament to seven as he raced forward and finished on the counter-attack as France desperately searched for an equaliser.
On the bench, Aurélien Tchouameni was rested after nursing a hamstring problem. Coach Deschamps opted not to take any risks in midfield and left him unused.
It is widely expected that former Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane will imminently be announced as the next man in charge of the French national team. His first game in the position will be in September for a fixture in the UEFA Nations League against Turkey in İzmit.
