England secured third place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a chaotic 6-4 victory over France in Miami. Thomas Tuchel ignored calls for squad rotation ahead of the bronze medal match, and the gamble paid off as his starting lineup pushed through sweltering 80-degree humidity to claim the win.
Bukayo Saka led the charge with a spectacular three-goal performance. Two rapid-fire strikes in the first half set the tone, and he completed his treble in the 87th minute with a penalty after Malo Gusto brought down Djed Spence. That output earned him a near-perfect 9/10 from ESPN analysts evaluating his standout hat-trick performance.
Declan Rice opened the scoring just three minutes into the fixture. Ezri Konsa added a header before Jude Bellingham netted the final strike for Tuchel’s squad. The result marks the men’s national team’s best tournament placement since their 1966 championship.
France kept pace through strikes from Bradley Barcola and a stoppage-time finish by Ousmane Dembélé, but it was Kylian Mbappé who claimed individual history. By scoring twice, Mbappé took the Golden Boot lead with 10 tournament goals and surpassed Lionel Messi to become the all-time leading scorer in Men’s World Cup history. The 6-4 defeat was confirmed alongside Didier Deschamps’ final match managing the French national team.