This third-place game has a dirty little secret: It’s the most entertaining game, by far, in the entire World Cup. Nobody parks the bus. Nobody plays scared. Two exhausted, heartbroken teams show up, shrug and just play.
Saturday in Miami gave us a spectacle for the ages. England beat France, 6-4, in a 10-goal circus that felt less like a bronze-medal match and more like a pickup run where both teams forgot defense was legal.
And that’s precisely why it happened: With nothing real at stake, the handbrakes came off.
France’s Kylian Mbappe faces pressure from England’s Ezri Konsa during the 2026 FIFA World Cup third-place match. (Photo by Manuel Velasquez – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Thomas Tuchel spent the week getting torched for retreating into a shell against Argentina, and then his liberated team scored six against France. Quite cruel for England fans. The talent was never the question. The fear was.
The history came fast. Kylian Mbappé scored twice, giving him 10 for the tournament and 22 for his World Cup career, one more than Lionel Messi. For at least one day, Mbappé is the greatest goalscorer in the history of this competition, but Messi gets his chance Sunday in the final.
Jude Bellingham’s goal was his seventh of the tournament, making him the first England player to score seven at a single World Cup, breaking the record of six that Gary Lineker set in 1986 and Harry Kane matched in 2018. And Bukayo Saka, benched for the semifinal, answered with a hat trick. The most polite revenge imaginable, which is very Saka.
Now the interesting part: Where do these two go from here? Both teams leave North America upset about their semifinal results, but they also each possess a serious core of luxury talent for Euro 2028.
Start with France, where the future is mouthwatering. Mbappé is 27, entering his true prime and just spent a month reminding everyone that his ceiling is “best player alive.” Désiré Doué is one for the future, even though he found it hard to start among the generational talent around him.
The attacking core is arguably the youngest elite group on the planet, and it’s about to be handed to Zinedine Zidane, who’s expected to replace Didier Deschamps after his 14-year era ended Saturday.
French football legend and coach Zinedine Zidane (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP via Getty Images)
