FIFA World Cup 2026: England Beat France in Thriller to Seal Best Finish Since 1966
England France World Cup third place playoff: England took on France in the bronze final in Miami with a lot at stake. Both teams were on the wrong end of results in the semi-finals, and this was their chance to go out on top.
England 6-4 France
England defeated France in an all-time World Cup classic to seal a third-place finish, their best result at the tournament since 1966. The third-place playoff has often been treated with apathy from fans and teams, but on this occasion it was a game that will go down in World Cup history.
It took England just three minutes to score the opening goal of the game after Declan Rice intercepted Desire Doue’s pass, marauded forward, and expertly finished past Mike Maignan from the edge of the box. Rice then turned provider as his delivery from the corner was glanced in by Ezri Konsa in the 18th minute.
Les Bleus looked ragged at the back, and their defence was split open when Marcus Rashford ran through but saw his effort saved by Maignan. However, he retained the ball and laid it up for Bukayo Saka, who drilled in a finish in the 37th minute. There was more to come as The Three Lions ran riot with a fourth goal in the first half’s stoppage time.
Saka collected Eberechi Eze’s through ball and found the back of the net with an angled finish. Didier Deschamps made a raft of changes for the second half, and his side pulled a goal three minutes in.
Michael Olise played in Kylian Mbappe, who scored with a first-time finish. Six minutes later, they halved the deficit when Bradley Barcola thumped the ball home at the near post. In the 66th minute, it was 4-3, when Olise once again linked up with Mbappe, who finished calmly to score his 10th goal of the tournament and move two ahead of Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot race.
France had chances to incredibly equalize but failed to capitalize, with Olise the main culprit. Djed Spence then saw himself fouled in the box by Malo Gusto after an impressive run. Saka stepped up to send Maignan the wrong way with the penalty to score his hat-trick in the 87th minute. He became the first English player to achieve the feat in a knockout game since Geoff Hurst’s treble in the 1966 final.
Ousmane Dembele then threatened a late comeback after his left-foot strike once again cut the deficit to one goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time. But Thomas Tuchel’s side had the last laugh as Jude Bellingham capped off a fantastic World Cup campaign with a well-taken individual goal.
Curva Analysis
France will have a lot to ponder once the dust settles on their World Cup run. Their attacking prowess proved to be too much for their opponents until they ran into the Spanish wall in the semi-finals. Les Bleus struggled to play with their usual flow as La Roja stiffled them.
That defeat did show that they need more than just a clinical frontline when it comes to big games. In Euro 2024, they were also beaten comfortably by eventual winners Spain, highlighting that their inability to overcome a strong possession-based side isn’t a one-off.
Didier Deschamps will look back at his 14-year reign as the team’s head coach with immense pride, having led the team to their second World Cup success in 2018. But there will be a feeling of the team just falling short of achieving more in this period. The 1998 World Cup-winning French side added a European championship two years later, and many would feel this current side was capable of emulating them.
Still, Deschamps leaves with a massive legacy, having delivered consistent performances on the global stage. The legendary Zinedine Zidane, the hero of the 1998 final, is expected to take charge of the team next. He has an abundance of talent at his disposal and possesses the mindset to get the best out of them.
He will command instant respect in the dressing room, and now the task remains whether he can turn them into serial tournament winners in the coming years.
For England, this tournament was a case of what could’ve been. Had they turned up against Argentina the way they did against France in the bronze final, we might have been analyzing their chances against Spain. Had Thomas Tuchel brought on Bukayo Saka at any point in the semi-final, the Three Lions might have been preparing for their first World Cup final since 1966. Ifs and buts: the story of English football at major tournaments.
The third-place playoff win in such emphatic fashion gave fans more than a glimpse of what their team is capable of if they play without fear and trust their instincts.
Tuchel might be right in his assessment after the painful defeat to Argentina, saying that it wasn’t in the English DNA to play like Spain or Brazil, in terms of keeping the ball and controlling the game, but what England does possess is sheer talent that has shown it is more than ready to take on the world’s best teams.
The English DNA has never been possession-based football, nor has it been defensive solidity. It has always been about grit and getting the job done. Right now they have players who can run teams ragged just like they did against France and overcome adversity similar to what they achieved against Mexico at Azteca. This is the best English side since 1966, and they now have the result to back it up.
Many fans and experts will believe that this was England’s best chance at ending their 60-year wait for a World Cup or at least reaching the final. This might still hold true. Still, this tournament offered enough encouraging signs that the team is moving in the right direction. World Cup 2026 might go down as a missed opportunity for them, but there is hope that this bunch of players will finally end their trophy drought.
READ MORE: World Cup Third-Place Playoff: The Best Bronze Final Matches of All Time
