France and England meet in the 2026 FIFA World Cup third-place match on Saturday, July 18, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET from Miami Stadium.<\/p>\n
France won all six of its matches before the semifinal loss to Spain, outscoring opponents by a combined 16-2. Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 led the way with eight goals, tied with Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the tournament lead, and added three assists. Michael Olise chipped in a tournament-high five assists of his own.<\/p>\n
England went 5-1-0 before its own semifinal exit against Argentina. Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham each scored six goals and added an assist, and each recorded two braces along the way. Kane scored twice against Croatia on June 17 and again against DR Congo on July 1. Bellingham did the same against Mexico on July 5 and against Norway on July 11.<\/p>\n
The third-place match has been part of the World Cup since 1934, the second-ever men’s tournament, except for 1950. Croatia beat Morocco, 2-1, in the last third-place game, back in 2022.<\/p>\n
Below are the details on how to watch.<\/p>\n
France’s transition defense against Jude Bellingham’s late runs is the key battle.<\/p>\n
France still looks most dangerous when games open up. \u00a0Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 has 8 of France’s 16 goals in this World Cup, which means England cannot afford sloppy turnovers or broken midfield spacing when France breaks forward. The real pressure point is what happens just behind that first wave, because Bellingham has matched England’s team record with 6 non-penalty goals and keeps arriving into scoring spots after the initial action starts.<\/p>\n
England are built to create those second-phase moments. Harry Kane and the wide service around him can pin France’s back line, and if that forces Aurelien Tchouameni and the center backs to collapse, Bellingham gets the pocket he wants. France has the stronger pure scoring punch, but England’s best path in play is turning those transition moments into a midfield runner arriving free.<\/p>\n
Watch the space at the top of France’s box after England’s first pass into attack, because that is where this match can tilt.<\/p>\n
Why Lionel Messi vs. Lamine Yamal Makes the World Cup Final A Must-Watch<\/p>\n
Spain vs. Argentina: 4 Key Storylines For The 2026 World Cup Final<\/p>\n
Lamine Yamal vs. Lionel Messi As Spain-Argentina Set Up World Cup Final<\/p>\n
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POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY France and England meet in the 2026 FIFA World Cup third-place match on Saturday, July 18, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET from Miami Stadium. France won all six of its matches before the semifinal loss to Spain, outscoring opponents by a combined 16-2. Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 led the way with eight goals, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}