England Takes 3rd Place in 10-Goal Thriller; Mbappe Leads Golden Boot Race

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In the third-place match of the North and Central America World Cup, England defeated France 6-4 to secure third place. France's Kylian Mbappe scored two more goals, bringing his tournament total to 10 and moving ahead of Lionel Messi to lead the scoring race.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong has the story.

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Despite both teams resting some key players—England leaving out Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, and France resting Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola—the match turned into a high-scoring affair.

England dominated the first half. Declan Rice opened the scoring with a long-range strike in the 3rd minute, followed by a header from Ezri Konsa in the 18th minute. Bukayo Saka then added consecutive goals late in the half to give England a 4-0 lead.

France launched a fierce comeback in the second half by substituting in four key players, including Dembele and Barcola, with Mbappe leading the charge.

Mbappe scored his first goal in the 48th minute, finishing a through ball from Michael Olise with his left foot. Six minutes later, he provided a long pass behind the defense to assist Barcola's goal, and in the 66th minute, he completed his brace with another left-footed strike.

With his 10th goal of the tournament, Mbappe, the top scorer of the previous World Cup, became the first player since Gerd Muller in 1970 to reach double-digit goals in a single tournament, 56 years later. He now leads the scoring race, two goals ahead of Messi.

Furthermore, with 22 career World Cup goals, he has surpassed Messi by one goal to become the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history.

Although France narrowed the gap to 4-3, England pulled away in the 87th minute when Saka completed his hat-trick with a penalty kick. In stoppage time, Dembele for France and Bellingham for England traded goals, bringing the total to 10—the most goals ever scored in a third-place match.

England won the high-scoring contest 6-4, achieving their best finish since winning the title in 1966.

The North and Central America World Cup will conclude its journey with the final match between Argentina and Spain early tomorrow (July 20).

(Video Editing: Hwang Ji-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.