MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) 鈥� France’s Kylian Mbapp茅 was in the starting lineup for his squad’s third-place match against England on Saturday as he continues his chase for a second Golden Boot.
That didn’t seem to matter much for France, which headed into halftime trailing 4-0.
With stars Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane watching from the bench 鈥� neither was in England’s starting lineup 鈥� Declan Rice opened the scoring, curling a shot past France goalkeeper Mike Maignan in the third minute.
Ezri Konsa headed home a corner in the 18th, and Bukayo Saka added goals in the 37th and in stoppage time to stun Les Bleus, who had allowed only four goals in the entire tournament entering Saturday.
Mbapp茅, who won the Golden Boot at the World Cup four years ago in Qatar, is in a tight race with Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the award, given to the tournament’s top scorer. Mbapp茅 and Messi have eight goals each.
Messi holds the first tiebreaker with a 4-3 lead in assists. He and defending champion Argentina will face Spain in Sunday’s final.
Both teams in Saturday’s third-place match have said they’d rather be playing on Sunday. France lost to Spain in the semifinals and squandered its chance at reaching a third straight World Cup final. England blew a 1-0 lead against Argentina.
Still, Mbapp茅 and his teammates arrived at Hard Rock Stadium in hopes of delivering one last win for , who was set to coach his final game for France.
It now looks unlikely that will happen. Meanwhile, a third-place finish by the Three Lions would be their best since they won their only title in 1966.
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