France 4-6 England: Three Lions Achieve Highest World Cup Finish Since 1966 In Chaotic Clash

Following what will go down as one of the craziest World Cup matches of all time, England were able to make the most of what has been a painful couple of days by securing third place for the first time in the nation's history, officially making this the Three Lions' best World Cup finish since 1966.

Despite finding themselves four-nil up at half-time, with the French seemingly sleepwalking to a historic defeat, in true England fashion, they had to make the job hard for themselves.

However, despite the late scare, the Three Lions were able to get the job done in a rather chaotic but defiant display, being able to deliver whilst still processing all of the pain and disappointment following their semi-final exit at the hands of Argentina on Wednesday night.

A Game Of Two Halves 

You will probably never see a more evident example of 'a game of two halves' than this match right here.

For the first 45 minutes, England looked like they were in dreamland, finding themselves four goals to the good heading into the break after a spectacular first-half display.

Declan Rice was able to open the scoring only three minutes into the fixture through a beautifully guided long-range effort into the far corner of the goal to mark his first goal of the tournament.

The Three Lions were soon able to add to their lead through an Ezri Konsa header, before Bukayo Saka was able to add to the lead through an emphatic brace to put his side four-nil to the good heading into the break.

However, it seemed Dechamps was able to deliver a final rallying call to his players at halftime, with the French going on to net three times before the final hydration break, seeing a game which seemed all but done at the break spring back to life in the blink of an eye.

The goal fest continued heading into the closing stages of the match, with Bukayo Saka able to grab his third from the penalty spot to secure his first World Cup hat trick to help ease some panic following a rampant spree of squandered French chances.

Although a late strike from Dembele did allow for some further doubt to creep into England fans' minds, a superb solo run and finish by Jude Bellingham was ultimately enough to confirm third place for England, as well as his seventh goal of the tournament, breaking the tournament record for an English player.

Mbappe Closes In On Consecutive Golden Boot

Although he will be devastated not to be competing for the major prize in New York on Sunday, Kylian Mbappe will be able to take some pleasure in knowing his bid for a consecutive World Cup Golden Boot has just been given a major boost following his brace against the Three Lions.

Not only do his goals tonight extend his lead over Messi by two for this tournament alone, but they also make him the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer, bringing his tally to 22, once again overtaking the Argentine on 21.

Although Messi will have a chance to have his say on the matter in tomorrow's final, he will be facing his toughest opposition yet in Spain, who have only conceded one goal all tournament so far, a record they will intend to keep intact.

Of course, Messi has shown us time and time again never to underestimate his greatness, but the magic man will be up against it if he wants to snatch the Golden Boot from Mbappe's clutches tomorrow night.