As Lionel Messi’s Argentina and Spain put the finishing touches on their preparations for Sunday’s highly anticipated World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the tournament’s two losing semi-finalists instead shifted their focus south. Stepping out into the oppressive humidity of Miami Stadium, the two nations clashed directly to salvage pride and fight for the consolation of a World Cup bronze medal.

The opening 45 minutes quickly turned into a nightmare scenario for France coach Didier Deschamps, who had already announced he would be stepping down at the conclusion of the tournament. Hoping for a dignified final match in charge of Les Bleus, the long-serving manager instead had to watch from the sidelines as his team completely collapsed under early pressure.

Deschamps had opted to make multiple personnel changes from the line-up that suffered a semi-final defeat to Spain . However, the gamble backfired completely as the heavily altered French defence fell into immediate disarray, allowing Declan Rice to open the scoring with a brilliant long-range effort before Ezri Konsa easily nodded in a second to compound France’s misery.

Bukayo Saka then took complete control of the match by netting two quick goals. His ruthless clinical finishing ruthlessly extended England’s advantage to a commanding 4-0 lead just before the half-time whistle.

A furious Didier Deschamps openly condemned his team’s opening 45 minutes as “catastrophic” during his team talk. He immediately reacted at the break by substituting a group of his trusted, first-choice regulars back onto the pitch to restore order.

The tactical gamble paid immediate dividends for Les Bleus. Within three minutes of the restart, Kylian Mbappé fired home his ninth goal of the tournament before Bradley Barcola quickly notched another to spark a dramatic French fightback.

Saka rounded off his hat-trick with a penalty but when Ousmane Dembele scored in the sixth minute of added time, it gave France hope of an improbable draw.

Up stepped Jude Bellingham to cap a superb tournament and became the first England player to score seven goals at a World Cup when he dribbled around the French defence to score his side’s sixth.

“I would have preferred not to be the all-time top scorer and to be playing tomorrow’s match,” said Mbappe.