England beat France 6-4 in the FIFA World Cup 2026 third-place play-off at Miami Stadium on Saturday 18 July.
Ten goals. Bukayo Saka scored three of them. England were 4-0 up by half-time, France came back to 4-3, and Jude Bellingham had to score in the 90th minute to confirm what had threatened to become very uncomfortable.
England finish 3rd at World Cup 2026, their best result at a World Cup since winning the tournament in 1966. France finish 4th.
The match
Declan Rice scored in the third minute from a corner. Ezri Konsa doubled the lead on 18 minutes, also from a set-piece. Bukayo Saka made it three on 37 minutes with a composed finish inside the area, then added his second in first-half stoppage time.
England 4-0 at half-time. France had barely existed as an attacking force.
The second half was different. Kylian Mbappé pulled one back two minutes after the restart with a low drive. Bradley Barcola made it 4-2 on 54 minutes. Mbappé’s second on 66 minutes, cutting in from the left and finding the far corner, reduced the deficit to one.
4-3. The match had changed completely.
England steadied themselves. Saka converted a penalty on 87 minutes to restore a two-goal lead. Ousmane Dembélé scored in the 90th minute to make it 5-4, and England had to endure two minutes of added time before Bellingham finished the contest in the 97th minute.
6-4 confirmed. The scoreboard had told a story that the match itself barely reflected across its 90-plus minutes.
What the result means
England finish 3rd at World Cup 2026. Their record at the tournament reads: qualified from a group, reached the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and then converted a third-place play-off. In the context of England’s World Cup history, finishing with a bronze medal is a result few could have predicted at the start of the tournament.
Bukayo Saka’s hat-trick was the performance of the night. Three goals in a World Cup match, including a penalty under pressure at 5-4. His contribution across the tournament has been the most consistent attacking output in the England squad.
France finish 4th. Mbappé scored twice on Saturday to end the tournament with a series of goals, but France were beaten heavily in the first half and could not fully recover. A 4th place finish after reaching the Final in 2022 is a clear step back for Deschamps’s side.
Looking ahead
The 2026 FIFA World Cup Final takes place on Sunday 19 July at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey. Kick-off: 20:00 BST. Argentina face Spain.
For England, the summer is over. The Premier League season opens in August.
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