England beat France 6-4 in the third-place game at the FIFA World Cup, and a lip reader has revealed the message Harry Kane sent to his England team-mates after the final whistle
England legend Harry Kane couldn’t help but dwell on Wednesday’s devastating loss to Argentina while celebrating during a remarkable 6-4 triumph over France in the third-place playoff at the FIFA World Cup, a lip reader has theorised.
The highest-scoring third-place match in World Cup history witnessed England beat France 6-4 after establishing a commanding four-goal advantage at the interval. England’s merciless opening spell left France skipper Kylian Mbappe chuckling on the pitch, stunned by the extraordinary events unfolding before him.
France and Mbappe fought back, as his double helped restore some dignity to the scoreline and propelled him ahead of Lionel Messi in both the Golden Boot standings and the all-time charts. Following Bukayo Saka’s fifth goal for England, which completed his treble, Kane was spotted making reference to Wednesday’s elimination.
Saka netted twice towards the close of the opening period, and when England were handed a spot-kick in the second half, substitute Jude Bellingham passed him the ball. Saka slotted home into the bottom-right corner with four minutes left to establish a 5-3 lead for England.
The strike meant Saka became only the fourth England player to bag a World Cup hat-trick and also sparked debate over Thomas Tuchel’s choice to bench him against Argentina. In Saturday’s third-place encounter, Kane was rested in favour of Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney.
Kane still dashed over to embrace Saka and offer his congratulations from the sidelines. He was then spotted delivering a message to his England colleagues.
According to lip reader Nicola Hickling, via Covers, Kane was thrilled with the display but couldn’t resist questioning why it failed to emerge against Argentina. “Alright. That was some great work. It’s a shame we didn’t play like this the other day,” he said, per Hickling.
England endured a crushing defeat on Wednesday, as Argentina netted two late strikes to triumph 2-1 and progress to the final. Anthony Gordon fired England in front after 55 minutes, with that advantage lasting until the 85th minute.
As England tried to cling on against Argentina for a 1-0 victory, Enzo Fernández levelled proceedings with a strike from the edge of the area. Messi then floated a delivery to Lautaro Martinez in stoppage time, who thundered his header into the back of the net.