Full Time
England beat France 6-4 in an outrageous third-place decider, with Bukayo Saka's hat-trick and a Jude Bellingham screamer deep into stoppage time getting them over the line after France nearly pulled off one of the great comebacks. England were 4-0 up by half-time through Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and a Saka brace, only for Kylian Mbappé (twice) and Bradley Barcola to drag France back within a goal before Ousmane Dembélé's 96th-minute strike made it 5-4 — two minutes before Bellingham settled it with a driving solo finish. It was the highest-scoring game in World Cup third-place history, and Mbappé's double made him the all-time leading scorer at World Cups, nudging past Messi. Nothing was really at stake beyond bragging rights and a bronze medal, though it reportedly doubled as Didier Deschamps' farewell match as France boss. England leave with their best World Cup finish since they won the whole thing in 1966; France leave with a lot of goals, no trophy, and a manager on his way out.
Pre-match Talking Points
-
1Let's be honest about what's actually on the line here: not a huge amount, beyond pride and a bronze medal nobody will remember by Christmas. Both France and England were beaten in the semi-finals, so this is the game before the game everyone actually wants to watch. Still, third beats fourth, and neither side wants to end the tournament on a two-match losing streak.
-
2France and England have needled each other plenty over the years, and the big moments usually go France's way. At Euro 2004, Zinedine Zidane turned a losing scoreline into a win almost single-handedly with two goals in stoppage time. More recently, France knocked England out of the 2022 World Cup at the quarter-final stage, 2-1, with Harry Kane missing a penalty that still gets brought up whenever these two meet.
-
3Kylian Mbappé is the name to know here, and not just because he's brilliant. He's tied with Messi for the Golden Boot on eight goals, and since Messi's playing in tomorrow's final instead of this one, tonight is genuinely Mbappé's last chance to add to his tally. He's already France's all-time record scorer, having gone past Olivier Giroud earlier in this tournament, so watch for a player with real personal history to chase in a match his team doesn't strictly need to care about.
-
4There's real emotion under the surface for France: this is Didier Deschamps' last match in charge after fourteen years, and a nice way to bow out would be with a medal, whatever the colour. He's also had to reshuffle his defence, with William Saliba out injured and Maxence Lacroix stepping in. England have their own worries — Reece James is a fitness doubt after picking up a knock in the semi-final, and Jordan Henderson still isn't fit to feature.
-
5Here's the bit that should make England fans wince: this is their third World Cup third-place match, and they've lost the other two — to hosts Italy in 1990 and to Belgium in 2018. Win, lose or draw tonight, there's a rather unwanted hat-trick on the line, whether anyone wants to admit it or not.
Team Talking Points
-
1France finished the World Cup in fourth place after losing the third-place play-off 6-4 to England in Miami last night — genuinely one of the wildest scorelines of the whole tournament. Ten goals in a match both managers openly said they wished didn't exist is very on-brand for how that fixture always plays out.
-
2Kylian Mbappé scored twice in the defeat and became the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer, taking his tally to 22 and passing Lionel Messi's previous record of 21. Slightly awkward timing — he made history in a match his team lost 6-4, so lead with the record, not the scoreline, and you'll sound like you know what you're talking about.
-
3It was also Didier Deschamps' final game in charge of France after 14 years, during which he won the 2018 World Cup and reached the 2022 final. Bowing out with a 6-4 defeat in a play-off nobody wanted isn't the send-off anyone would have scripted, but a World Cup winner's medal means his legacy was never really in question.
-
4France were already down to a patched-up defence, having lost William Saliba to a back injury in the semi-final loss to Spain. England took full advantage, with Bukayo Saka running riot — handy context for anyone wondering how a team this good let in six.
-
5France arrived as reigning runners-up and one of the pre-tournament favourites; they leave in fourth after a semi-final defeat to Spain and a chaotic play-off loss. It's a comedown by their own recent standards, even if 'officially the fourth-best team on the planet' is still not a bad way to end a World Cup.
🍺
Top thing to say down the pub
Mbappé became the all-time World Cup top scorer last night — 22 goals, more than Messi ever managed — and somehow still finished on the losing side of a 6-4.
🚫
Avoid saying
"At least they racked up a good goal tally" — congratulating France on how many goals went in during a match they lost 6-4 is not the flex it sounds like, and any real fan will hear it as exactly the wrong takeaway.
-
1England beat France 6-4 in Miami last night to take third place at the 2026 World Cup — their best finish since they won the whole thing outright in 1966. Ten goals in one match is a new record for a third-place game, the highest-scoring one in World Cup history. Bronze isn't gold, but it's the best England have managed in sixty years, so let them have this one.
-
2Bukayo Saka came off the bench and scored a hat-trick — his second for England — having been dropped for the semi-final defeat to Argentina in favour of Morgan Rogers. He'd spent the days before insisting he was fully fit and wanted more minutes; three goals later, he'd made the point better than any interview could. Drop this in and you'll sound like you've been tracking the team sheet all tournament.
-
3Jude Bellingham got in on it too, scoring deep into stoppage time for his seventh goal of the tournament — the kind of tally that puts him right in the conversation for the competition's top scorer, even in a match that didn't count for silverware.
-
4France weren't just making up the numbers either — Kylian Mbappé scored twice and, somewhere in the chaos, became the World Cup's all-time leading scorer, overtaking Messi's old record of 21. It's a genuinely huge milestone that got almost completely buried under the goalfest around it.
-
5Manager Thomas Tuchel had grumbled beforehand that 'nobody wants to play' the third-place match, then watched his team produce one of the most entertaining games of the whole tournament. He's since talked about the semi-final exit leaving 'scars' England will use as fuel heading into Euro 2028 — so treat bronze as the start of a comeback story, not the end of one.
🍺
Top thing to say down the pub
Saka came off the bench and banged in a hat-trick in a 6-4 game against France — bronze medal, best England finish since '66, and he wasn't even supposed to be on that long.
🚫
Avoid saying
"So they lost, then?" — England just won a bronze medal in the highest-scoring third-place game in World Cup history, with a Saka hat-trick from the bench. Lead with the semi-final defeat instead of that and you'll sound like you switched off after the Argentina game.