England beat France 6-4 in a surprisingly tense and World Cup third-place playoff, with Bukayo Saka scoring a hat trick as the Three Lions secured their best finish at the tournament since winning the title in 1966.
Saka struck in the 37th minute, again in first-half stoppage time and completed his second England hat trick from the penalty spot in the 87th minute. Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa also found the net as England raced into a 4-0 halftime lead before surviving a relentless French fightback.
"I hope that the players can be proud of that in some time," England coach Thomas Tuchel said.
"We are fiercely competitive, so we almost don't allow ourselves to be proud of third place because 18 months ago we set the highest goal. We set the highest dream to chase, and we were very, very ambitious with our dream to make it to the final and win the World Cup. So it's very, very painful if you miss out."
Both teams had admitted beforehand they would rather have been playing in Sunday's final, but the consolation match still produced a host of records.
