France’s Kylian Mbappe all but clinches World Cup Golden Boot in third-place game

For 90 carefree minutes in Miami, defense disappeared, goals were aplenty and Kylian Mbappé seized the Golden Boot race leaderboard.

France’s 6-4 loss to England in Saturday’s third-place match looked more like an NBA All-Star Game than a World Cup showdown. With Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé all beginning on the bench, neither side showed much interest in risking tired legs just weeks before returning to their clubs.

England raced to a stunning 4-0 halftime lead before France finally responded.

Mbappé scored twice and added an assist in the second half as France clawed back with three unanswered goals before Bukayo Saka completed the hat trick to help England pull away late.

The French superstar’s performance pushed him to 10 goals and four assists for the tournament, all but locking up the World Cup Golden Boot.

Lionel Messi entered the day holding the tiebreaker with eight goals and four assists, but Sunday’s final now presents an almost impossible math problem. Messi would likely need a hat trick against Spain at MetLife Stadium to overtake Mbappé outright — or two goals and an assist to win on the tiebreaker.

Mbappé also moved past Messi atop the World Cup’s all-time scoring chart with 22 career goals, one ahead of the Argentine legend entering Sunday’s final.

Messi can still reclaim both records, but his focus is almost certainly elsewhere.

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A victory over Spain would deliver Argentina its second straight World Cup title — something no nation has accomplished since Brazil in 1962 — while strengthening his case for the Golden Ball and perhaps even a record ninth Ballon d’Or.