England outlasts France in thrilling World Cup Bronze Final

By Jacob Lev, CNN

(CNN) — The third place match at the 2026 World Cup appeared to be a blowout, but the tide turned in the second half, leading to a thrilling 6-4 win for England over France on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.

With manager Didier Deschamps admitting before the game the French didn’t want to play, Les Bleus still trotted out some of their big hitters including Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise and Mike Maignan, while England sat regular starters Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Jordan Pickford.

Despite the apparent lineup advantage, France found themselves in an early hole and the Three Lions continued to roar past the French as the first half went on.

England captain Declan Rice got the scoring started right out of the gate, launching a screamer from the top of the box past Maignan in just the third minute of the match.

It wasn’t long until defender Ezri Konsa headed in Rice’s corner to extend England’s lead to 2-0 in the 18th minute.

As halftime approached and France looking stunned by the English offensive onslaught, forward Bukayo Saka scored two goals within 10 minutes to officially turn the match into something no one thought would happen – an English blowout.

Or, that was, until halftime.

France made a quadruple sub to start the second half, bringing on reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé along with Lucas Digne, Dayot Upamecano and Bradley Barcola to give a boost.

Just three minutes into the half, Mbappé scored his ninth goal of the tournament to overtake Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the lead in the 2026 Golden Boot race.

Minutes later, Barcola added France’s second goal to cut the lead in half to 4-2, and the chances didn’t stop there.

Mbappé scored his second goal of the game in the 66th minute, his 22nd career goal in the World Cup, breaking an earlier tie with Lionel Messi for the most all-time.

Olise made some history as well after getting credited with assists on both Mbappé goals. The Bayern Munich star broke Pele’s record for most assists in a single tournament with seven.

Defense was practically non-existent from England and France throughout the game but in the second half, big scoring chances were omnipresent for both sides, requiring both Maignan and Henderson to make impressive saves.

England brought on Bellingham and Elliot Anderson to try to pad the lead, and the 23-year-old Bellingham almost obliged in the 80th minute, but the shot was saved by Maignan.

England defender Djed Spence was fouled by France’s Malo Gusto in the box minutes later, resulting in a penalty being awarded to England. Saka smashed home the penalty kick to extend England’s lead to 5-3 and became the fourth player ever to score a hat trick for England in men’s World Cup history.

But it didn’t stop there, as France clawed closer with a stoppage time goal by Dembélé to make it a one goal game.

Just two minutes later, Bellingham finally got his goal to clinch England going home with a bronze medal, the country’s best World Cup result in 60 years.

The 10 combined goals between the two countries is the most in a World Cup game since 1982.

As the English fans at Hard Rock Stadium serenaded the players with Oasis’ “Wonderwall,” Mbappé embraced England manager Thomas Tuchel. England players then received their bronze medals in a postgame ceremony on the pitch.

Saka said after the game that the country had “amazing results” during the tournament but added they “fell short” short of their expectations.

“In the end, we fell short against Argentina and yeah, it hurts a lot to all of us. Its the same for the fans back home but we have to hold our head high and move on and focus on the next one,” Saka told the Fox broadcast.

On top of that, Saka downplayed all the criticisms of Tuchel coming into Saturday’s match.

“I think its just part of the game. When you lose, there’s always going to be noise. When you win, there’s going to be noise,” Saka said. “It’s how you react to it, how you use it as fuel, and today we finished strong.”

All attention now turns to East Rutherford, New Jersey, for Sunday’s World Cup Final between Argentina and Spain.

La Albiceleste are looking to repeat as champions while Spain are looking to win its first World Cup since 2010.

On top of that, Messi now trails Mbappé by two goals in this year’s Golden Boot race and one goal in the all-time World Cup list.

The game is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET at MetLife Stadium.

This write has been updated with additional reporting.

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