England won World Cup bronze in a ten-goal match, Saka broke France with a hat-trick
The England national football team won third place at the 2026 World Cup after a 6-4 victory over France in Miami Gardens. Thomas Tuchel's team built an incredible 4-0 lead by half-time and then survived a French comeback that turned the bronze-medal match into the highest-scoring such encounter in the history of the competition. Bukayo Saka scored three goals, Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa paved the way to victory, while Jude Bellingham set the final score in the eighth minute of stoppage time. Even two goals from Kylian Mbappé did not help France, while Didier Deschamps said goodbye to the national team bench with a defeat after 14 years and 185 matches.
The match, played on 18 July 2026 at Miami Stadium, commercially known as Hard Rock Stadium, provided a dramatic end to the tournament for two national teams that had missed out on the final only a few days earlier. England lost 2-1 to Argentina in the semi-final after taking the lead, while France were stopped 2-0 by Spain. In such an emotional context, the third-place match is often considered the most difficult to prepare for, but in front of 64,478 spectators it very quickly became clear that the English team intended to finish the competition with a victory. According to the official report by the Football Association, Tuchel changed seven players compared with the semi-final and handed the captain's armband to Declan Rice, while Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham started the match on the bench. Such rotation did not reduce England's intensity, as they punished almost every French mistake in the first half.
England turned French mistakes into four goals in the first half
England took the lead as early as the third minute after Rice intercepted an inaccurate pass in the French half, carried the ball towards the penalty area and beat Mike Maignan with a precise low shot. The English association states that the goal was scored after two minutes and 14 seconds, making it England's second-fastest goal in World Cup history, behind Bryan Robson's goal against France in 1982 after only 28 seconds. France tried to respond through Rayan Cherki and Mbappé, but goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who made his first appearance at this World Cup, stopped their attempts. In the 18th minute, England doubled their advantage when Ezri Konsa reacted best to Rice's corner and headed the ball into the net. The French defence looked uncertain in transition, while the English attackers constantly found space behind its full-backs and central defenders.
The third goal arrived in the 37th minute after a move in which Marcus Rashford first found himself one-on-one with Maignan, then kept his composure and returned the ball to Saka. The Arsenal forward made use of the new opportunity and scored for 3-0, further deepening the French crisis. In first-half stoppage time, Eberechi Eze sent a vertical ball behind the last line, and Saka calmly finished to make it 4-0. The official report by the French Football Federation described its national team's first half as unworthy of the level of a medal match, noting that Deschamps reacted very sharply to the players' approach in the dressing room. The score at the break was so convincing that the question of the winner appeared to have been settled, but four French substitutions completely changed the rhythm of the match.
Four substitutions sparked France and opened the way for a major comeback
At the start of the second half, Deschamps introduced Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Digne, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé, and France played more aggressively and directly from the first minute after the restart. In the 48th minute, Michael Olise found Mbappé behind the English defence, and the French captain reduced the deficit to 4-1. Only six minutes later, Mbappé took on the role of provider and played in Barcola, whose powerful shot brought France back to within two goals. England dropped deeper, lost control of midfield and found it increasingly difficult to escape the pressure, while Olise and Dembélé created overloads around the edges of the penalty area. Henderson prevented a complete turnaround several times, but in the 66th minute he could not stop another Mbappé finish after a quick combination with Olise.
France thus reduced the score from 0-4 to 3-4 in less than twenty minutes and then missed two major chances to equalise. The French association particularly highlighted Olise's attempts in the 75th and 81st minutes, when the score could have become 4-4 and the match could have taken an even more dramatic direction. During that period, England looked vulnerable precisely in the area Tuchel had warned about throughout the tournament: managing the match under pressure and making decisions when the opponent raises the tempo. By introducing Bellingham and Elliot Anderson, the German coach tried to restore energy to midfield and reduce the space between the lines. Nevertheless, France continued to attack with large numbers of players, turning the closing stages into an open exchange in which every lost possession could end with another goal.
Saka completed his hat-trick, Bellingham stopped the final French surge
The key moment of the closing stages occurred in the 87th minute, when Malo Gusto was late in a challenge with Djed Spence and conceded a penalty. Bellingham allowed Saka to take it, and he scored his third goal with a precise strike to restore England's two-goal advantage. After the match, Saka told the England national team's official website that Bellingham immediately picked up the ball and handed it to him so that he could complete his hat-trick. Saka thus became only the second English player after Geoff Hurst in the 1966 final to score three goals in a World Cup knockout match. He also joined Hurst, Gary Lineker and Harry Kane as the fourth English footballer to score a hat-trick at a men's World Cup.
France did not give up even then. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Dembélé reduced the score to 5-4 with a precise shot, after which the team in blue went in search of an equaliser with almost all of its players in the English half. That risk opened space for the final counterattack: Bellingham collected the ball around the halfway line, broke through the stretched defence and scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time to make the final score 6-4. According to the Football Association, it was his seventh goal of the tournament, setting a new national team record for the most goals scored by one player at a single major tournament. His introduction from the bench proved decisive because, during England's most difficult period, he provided the ability to retain possession, drive through the middle and produce the final shot.
The highest-scoring third-place match in World Cup history
The ten goals in Miami Gardens set a record for third-place matches at World Cups. The Associated Press also states that it was the highest-scoring World Cup match since Hungary's 10-1 victory over El Salvador in 1982. Both national teams recorded 19 shots, according to statistics published by the French Football Federation, with England having 11 and France nine shots on target. The figures confirm how open the encounter was, but also how both defences lost their structure after changes in rhythm and score. The match was therefore simultaneously a demonstration of top-class attacking quality and a warning about the problems both teams must address before the next competitive cycle.
For England, third place is their best World Cup result since winning the title in 1966 and their best finish achieved outside England. The national team had previously lost both bronze-medal matches in which it had participated, against Italy in 1990 and Belgium in 2018. The victory over France therefore carries historical weight, although the English camp was left with a sense of a missed opportunity after the dramatic semi-final defeat by Argentina. After the match, Tuchel emphasised that it was not easy to celebrate bronze fully when the initial goal had been the final and the title, but he assessed that the experience of such a match could help the team in its further development. He particularly highlighted the need for better management of pressure, more rational defending and calmer decisions when an opponent is coming back into the match.
Mbappé broke the record but was left without a medal
Kylian Mbappé finished the match with two goals and one assist, and his individual performance became one of the main stories of France's tournament. The French Football Federation announced that the captain had reached ten goals at the 2026 World Cup and a total of 22 in his World Cup career. At the conclusion of the third-place match, that took him past Lionel Messi at the top of the all-time standings, although the Argentine forward still had a chance to respond in the final against Spain on 19 July. After the match, Mbappé admitted that he would gladly exchange the individual record for an appearance in the final and that France's two contrasting halves would not satisfy him. His performance nevertheless showed how dangerous France remain when they accelerate the circulation of the ball and surround their captain with players capable of combining in tight spaces.
Olise also played an important role in the comeback, participating in the moves that produced both of Mbappé's goals. According to data from the French Football Federation, he finished the tournament with seven assists, surpassing Pelé's previous record of six assists at a single World Cup in 1970. Despite finishing fourth, France ended the competition with six victories and two defeats in eight matches and a goal difference of 20-10. Fourth place is their weakest World Cup result since the quarter-finals in 2014, but it comes after a decade in which France won the World Cup, played in another World Cup final and won the Nations League. The main problem in Miami was not a lack of talent, but the absence of intensity and organisation in the opening 45 minutes, which created a deficit against a high-quality opponent that could no longer be completely recovered.
Deschamps' farewell after 14 years marked the end of France's greatest era
The defeat marked the end of Didier Deschamps' tenure, having led the French national team since July 2012. The French Football Federation announced that he was leaving after 185 matches, 120 victories, 35 draws and 30 defeats, having won the 2018 World Cup and the 2021 Nations League. As head coach, he also led France to the final of the 2016 European Championship and the 2022 World Cup final, while before his coaching career he had been captain of the team that won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship. In its farewell announcement, the federation emphasised his long-term stability, discipline and ability to rebuild the team across several generations. After his final match, Deschamps accepted responsibility for the poor first half but stressed that one defeat could not sum up an entire period that had kept the French national team at the very top of world football.
France captain Mbappé said that the 6-4 result would not diminish Deschamps' legacy. According to him, the players wanted to win a medal for the coach, but the emotional blow following the semi-final defeat clearly affected them in the first half. The reaction after the break demonstrated character and attacking potential, but it also raised the question of why such an approach had not been present from the first minute. The name of Deschamps' successor had not been formally confirmed at the time the official reactions were published, so the French Football Federation will have to connect its decision on the new head coach with the beginning of the next cycle. The new coaching staff will inherit an exceptionally talented team, but also the high expectations created during one of the most successful periods in the history of French football.
Bronze gives England a result, but also a clear lesson for the future
England leave Miami with a medal, a historic result and confirmation that squad depth can produce an impact even after major changes to the starting line-up. As captain, Rice launched the team with a goal and an assist, Henderson prevented a French equaliser with his saves on his tournament debut, and Saka took his opportunity after not appearing in the semi-final. Bellingham came off the bench to add the final signature to a tournament in which he became England's record holder, while Kane remained among the substitutes. Such a distribution of roles showed that England no longer depend on only one striker or one creative focal point. At the same time, the fall from 4-0 to 4-3 and later 5-4 proved that the result alone does not eliminate weaknesses in controlling the rhythm and maintaining defensive stability.
Tuchel described the victory as an experience that could give the team energy for the continuation of its work, without attempting to present bronze as the fulfilment of its ultimate objective. England demonstrated the ability to win different types of matches at the tournament, but the semi-final defeat and the chaotic second half against France leave plenty of material for analysis. The next step will be to turn individual quality and a deep squad into a team capable of maintaining control when the biggest matches are decided in the closing stages. The bronze won in a ten-goal encounter is therefore not only a reward for the tournament completed, but also a measure of how close England are to the greatest national teams and what they still need to improve in order to challenge for the world title again. For France, meanwhile, the match remains a painful farewell to the Deschamps era, but also proof that the new generation has enough quality to continue fighting for the biggest trophies.
Sources:
- FIFA - official report, result, scorers and context of the third-place match (link)
- England Football - official match report, line-ups, course of the match and statements from the English camp (link)
- England Football - Bukayo Saka's reaction after the hat-trick and information about his historic achievement (link)
- French Football Federation - official report, statistics, reactions and information about Deschamps' final match (link)
- French Football Federation - farewell announcement and review of Deschamps' fourteen-year tenure (link)
- Associated Press - record ten-goal match, attendance and broader tournament context (link)