England Secures 3rd Place in 6-Goal Thriller; Mbappe Surpasses 10-Goal Mark

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Next, we have the latest from the World Cup. In the third-place play-off, England defeated France 6-4 after a high-scoring match to take third place. Although his team lost, Kylian Mbappe scored two goals to overtake Lionel Messi as the top scorer, increasing his chances of becoming the first player to win back-to-back Golden Boots.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong has the story.

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Although some key attackers, including England's Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, and France's Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola, were left out of the starting lineup, both teams put on a spectacular goal-scoring display.

In the first half, England took the lead by scoring four goals, starting with a long-range opener from Declan Rice, followed by a header from Ezri Konsa and consecutive goals from Bukayo Saka.

France launched a major counterattack in the second half after bringing on Dembele and Barcola, with Mbappe leading the charge.

Mbappe kicked off the pursuit in the 3rd minute of the second half by finishing a forward pass from Michael Olise with his left foot. Six minutes later, he assisted a goal for Barcola, and in the 21st minute of the second half, he scored his second goal of the match with a sharp left-footed shot.

With this, Mbappe became the first player since Gerd Muller 56 years ago to score 10 goals in a single tournament, surpassing Messi to take the lead in both the current tournament's scoring race and all-time tournament goals.

England struggled under France's intense pursuit, but Saka completed his hat-trick with a penalty kick in the 42nd minute of the second half to extend the lead to 5-3. When France closed the gap again with a goal from Dembele in second-half stoppage time, substitute Bellingham responded with a clinching goal to secure a 6-4 victory.

With 10 goals scored—the most ever in a third-place match—England achieved its best result since winning the title in 1966, finishing in third place.

[Saka/England National Football Team Forward: "It was truly an unbelievable match. I am still disappointed that we didn't make it to the final, but I am happy that England achieved its best result (in 60 years)."]

Mbappe, who led his team to a championship and a runner-up finish in the previous two tournaments, finished this tournament in fourth place. However, depending on the result of Messi's final match, he is now in a position to potentially become the first player in history to win the Golden Boot in two consecutive tournaments.

[Mbappe/France National Football Team Forward: "Even if I don't become the all-time top scorer, I would have rather played in the final match tomorrow. But on a day like today, the 'most goals' record is not the first thing that comes to my mind."]

Manager Didier Deschamps, who led France for 14 years and reached the top of the World Cup in Russia and the Nations League, ended his farewell match with a defeat.

Video by Hwang Ji-young | Graphics by Jo Su-in
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.