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This article is written by Egyptian journalist and sports critic Ezzedine Al-Kilawi, and the opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CNN.

(CNN)-- The French conceded 4 clean goals in the first half, and perhaps the first reason for this French scandal in the first 45 minutes is changing about 70% of the starting lineup.

The most prominent absentees were Ousmane Dembélé, Barcola, Jules Koundé, Lucas Digne, and Tchouaméni. The performance was affected by weak fighting spirit, disjointed lines, lack of harmony among defensive players, and lack of discipline, especially after Declan Rice's early goal in the 3rd minute, after he intercepted an attack and advanced unopposed to shoot from the edge of the penalty area into the goal.

With timid French attacks and individual play, the English attacks gained great danger and goals followed, including a header from a corner by defender Konsa, then two goals from inside the area by Bukayo Saka, ending the half with a heavy result for the 'Roosters'.

The second half comes as an attempt by coach Didier Deschamps to correct the mistakes, so he brought back the full attacking force, with the entry of Dembélé, the Ballon d'Or winner, and left winger Barcola, while getting rid of the most prominent gaps in the defensive line, namely Ibrahima Konaté and Theo Hernández.

The 'Roosters' began to regain their balance in search of the impossible comeback, or at least improve the result and reduce the impact of the scandal. The French machine started turning, and Mbappé scored his first goal in the 3rd minute, killing several birds with one stone: he took the lead in the tournament's top scorers list by adding his 9th goal, ahead of Messi by one goal, and at the same time rose to the top of the all-time World Cup scorers list with 21 goals. This whetted the French appetite, and Barcola scored, then Mbappé improved his figures, raising his goal tally at the top of the World Cup scorers to 10 goals, and his lead in the all-time World Cup list to 22 goals, awaiting Messi's attempts to break both records in the final match between Argentina and Spain.

The French missed more than one goal, and the comeback stopped in the 85th minute with a penalty for the English, from which Saka scored his third goal 'hat-trick' and the fifth for his team.

The French returned in the 5th minute of stoppage time for Dembélé to score the fourth goal for France, and hope for the comeback rose, but English stubbornness appeared again, from a rebound ball, substitute Jude Bellingham scored the sixth goal and killed the historic record-breaking match that ended 4-6 for England, which is the heaviest defeat for France in World Cup history.