A sensational game of two halves and 10 goals saw England almost squander a 4-0 lead before edging France for third place, but questions linger about Thomas Tuchel.
France had not looked interested, but found their mojo to score three and have England rocking early in the second half.
But a penalty by Saka steadied the ship and even though Les Bleus got another, Bellingham scored a brilliant sixth to settle the drama.
The match nobody wanted? Well, it turned out to be one of the best of the tournament!
Six-four sounds like a tennis score, but it was football at its flowing, thrilling, bewildering best.
A feast of goals and drama that England edged, but they don’t know how.
Just as mystified, France don’t know why they were 4-0 down at half-time.
This bronze medal match was a classic that no one saw coming. And it didn’t simply justify Fifa’s persistence in staging it, it did so gloriously.
Opposition was mounting and UEFA has dropped it for the European Championships.
Like much else at this World Cup, the bronze match is a blatant money grab, yet served up an absolute stunner of a football match.
It came out of the ruins and recriminations of two very different semi-final defeats, but which had a similarly devastating effect on the losers.
In both countries, the post-mortems were harsh, especially in England, where coach Thomas Tuchel bore the brunt for the loss to Argentina.
In France, it was befuddlement at being the best team in the tournament but not able to get the ball against Spain.
Hearing their lack of enthusiasm beforehand, the 103rd match of the World Cup was a game these players, shell-shocked and punch-drunk, could have done without.
After all, brought up on the mantra that “First is first, and second is nowhere”, where on earth are third and fourth?
On the eve of the final, it is always a game played by teams who don’t want to be there. Nowhere men, with apologies to the Beatles, sitting in a land that is beyond nowhere.
It’s difficult for the coaches, too. On this occasion in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, Tuchel found himself between a rock and a hard place.
A win would be bitter-sweet. What might have been had he not turned into Gareth Southgate against Argentina.
For Didier Deschamps, it was just unnecessary. His legacy is secure, if a little spoilt by the loss to Spain, but he already has two World Cups in his locker.
While Deschamps just wanted to go home and retire, Tuchel’s future was probably at stake.
But the way England began, it looked a bit more secure. Freed of the shackles of this game actually mattering, they were unrecognisable.
And it was two Arsenal stars, who were unfit or absent in the semi, that did the damage.
Declan Rice looked like the player who led the Gunners to the EPL title last season until he tired.
While Saka certainly added to the mystification about his non-appearance against Argentina with a hat-trick.
Bitter-sweet indeed for Tuchel. Just what was he thinking, keeping one of England’s big guns out of that battle?
But as England racked up an incredible 4-0 half-time lead, what were France thinking?
Where the Three Lions roared, Les Bleus barely offered a Gallic shrug.
Only Kylian Mbappe, seeking the goals to move ahead of Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot race seemed to care, but he was hands-on-hips frustrated.
But France woke up in the second half and, just like they were against Messi’s men in Atlanta, England incredibly found themselves hanging on.
It quickly went to two and then a third. The Lions had long since lost their roar and were rocking.
Mbappe duly bagged two, maintaining the history of this match as a stepping stone to the Golden Boot.
Italy’s Salvatore Schillaci clinched the award in 1990 by scoring in the third-place contest against England.
And Just Fontaine scored four in 1958 to take the Golden Boot with an amazing tally of 13 in six games. France beat West Germany 6-3.
At the hydration break, Mbappe was looking at making his own history while Tuchel’s future seemed on the line.
But the German delayed his substitutions. The smart money was now on France levelling and nicking it.
Tuchel would have been a dead man walking.
But belatedly, he brought on the cavalry in the shape of Jude Bellingham and Elliot Anderson.
And then he got a get-out-of-jail card with a penalty.
But even that, with no Harry Kane to take it, was a potential issue.
Saka had infamously missed in the 2021 Euro final and was pilloried for it. Now he was on a hat trick. Bellingham picked up the ball but gave it to Saka. He scored with aplomb.
Had he missed, England would probably have lost. Saka would surely have copped racist stick again and Tuchel’s authority would have been questioned.
Was it sentiment that made Bellingham give the kick to Saka? Where was acting skipper Declan Rice in the discussion? Where was the coach?
England got away with it: even after France got another, Bellingham scored a spectacular sixth with the last kick.
It brought smiles to England’s fans, players and the nation, but the questions about the manager remain.
Against Argentina, he couldn’t hold a 1-0 lead. Here had trouble hanging on to a 4-0 lead.
He was lucky, it was not convincing. It had been a chance to claw back a bit of credibility.
Despite the goals and excitement, we can’t be sure he did. And Pep Guardiola is available. - FMT
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