Photo: SCANPIX/AFP
The English team started the match with a fast-paced attack, according to RBC. Declan Rice opened the scoring in the 3rd minute, and Ezra Konsa doubled the lead in the 18th minute. Bukayo Saka became the hero of the match, scoring a hat trick: he found the net in the 37th minute, in stoppage time of the first half, and converted a penalty kick in the 87th minute. Jude Bellingham sealed the final score in the 90+8th minute.
France managed to put up a fight after the break. Kylian Mbappé scored twice, in the 48th and 66th minutes; Bradley Barcolay scored in the 54th minute; and Ousmane Dembélé narrowed the deficit in stoppage time of the second half. However, the French national team was unable to salvage the match.
England won the World Cup bronze medal for the first time in 60 years. Prior to this, the team had lost the third-place matches twice—to Italy in 1990 and to Belgium in 2018.
For the French national team, this was their fourth World Cup bronze medal match. The French had previously finished third in 1958 and 1986. For the first time since 2018, the team finished the World Cup without reaching the final and without winning a medal.
The match also marked head coach Didier Deschamps’ final game at the helm of the French national team. He is stepping down after 187 matches, with 122 wins—the best record among France’s national team coaches. After the tournament, Deschamps will be replaced by Zinedine Zidane.
Argentina and Spain will face off in the World Cup final on July 19. The game will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
