19/07/2026
'POINTLESS' NO MORE: ENGLAND, FRANCE PRODUCE 10-GOAL CLASSIC
Some football pundits dismissed the FIFA World Cup third-place playoff as the tournament's "most pointless match," but no one appeared to have told England and France.
Instead of a subdued contest between two sides still reeling from heartbreaking semifinal defeats, they produced arguably the most entertaining match of the tournament—a breathtaking 10-goal thriller that saw England survive an astonishing French comeback to claim the bronze medal with a 6-4 victory in Miami.
Thomas Tuchel's England looked to have settled the contest before halftime, tearing through the French defence in a devastating opening 45 minutes.
Declan Rice opened the scoring after just three minutes before Ezri Konsa doubled the lead with a header. Bukayo Saka then struck twice before the break to send England into the dressing room with an emphatic 4-0 advantage.
The match appeared over.
Then came wave after wave of French attacks.
With England pinned deep inside their own half, Didier Deschamps' side launched a relentless second-half onslaught.
Kylian Mbappé ignited the comeback three minutes after the restart before Bradley Barcola made it 4-2 six minutes later.
Mbappé struck again in the 67th minute, cutting England's lead to a single goal and taking his tally to 10 goals for the tournament, moving ahead of Argentina captain Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot and setting a new all-time men's World Cup scoring record.
France continued to pour forward in search of an equaliser, with England forced into desperate defending as attack after attack swept toward their goal.
Against the run of play, England were awarded a penalty in the 87th minute.
With Saka already on two goals, Jude Bellingham handed him the ball to complete his hat-trick.
The Arsenal winger calmly buried the penalty into the corner to restore England's two-goal cushion at 5-3.
France refused to surrender.
Five minutes into stoppage time, Ousmane Dembélé pulled another goal back to make it 5-4 and set up a frantic finish.
But with France throwing everyone forward in search of an equaliser, England broke one final time.
Deep into added time, Bellingham raced through before calmly finishing for his seventh goal of the tournament, making it 6-4 with virtually the last kick of the game.
It was a fitting finale to a contest many had written off before a ball had even been kicked.
Instead, England and France delivered a spectacular advertisement for attacking football, combining for 10 goals in a bronze-medal match that will long be remembered as one of the greatest third-place playoffs in World Cup history.
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