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Posted on 07/18/2026 8:14:06 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Bukayo Saka's hat trick helped England survive a dramatic second-half comeback to beat France 6-4 in Saturday's chaotic third-place playoff and secure their best finish at a World Cup since 1966.
England were up 4-0 at the break as a shambolic France side was dismantled through goals from Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa and two Saka strikes.
Both teams made seven changes following their semifinal defeats, but in his final match in charge after 14 years at the helm, France's Didier Deschamps introduced four substitutes at halftime, including Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola, in an attempt to trigger a response.
It began just three minutes after the restart. Michael Olise found Kylian Mbappé in space and his first-time left-foot finish beat Dean Henderson.
Six minutes later, Mbappé turned provider, sending Barcola clear to finish inside Henderson's near post, before Mbappé finished another France chance to score his 10th goal of the tournament.
Kylian Mbappé leapfrogged Lionel Messi on the all-time World Cup goal-scoring chart by getting his 21st and 22nd career goals in the competition during France's thrilling 6-4 third-place playoff defeat to England on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
France endured a nightmare first half as they trailed 4-0 after the opening 45 minutes. But Mbappé's first-time finish in the 48th minute prompted a thrilling comeback from Les Bleus, with Bradley Barcola cutting England's lead to two before the France captain found the back of the net again in the 66th minute.
Olise, whose seven assists in a single World Cup is another record, missed a glorious chance to equalize, somehow side-footing wide from 12 yards out, before England finally steadied themselves.
Djed Spence burst into the box on the overlap and was brought down by Malo Gusto. Saka converted the 87th-minute penalty to become only the fourth men's player to score a World Cup hat trick for England.
There was still time for France to respond again as Dembélé cut in on his left foot to finish, but substitute Jude Bellingham had the final say, driving into the box before finishing from close range to secure a memorable win.
Bellingham's late strike made him the first Englishman to score seven goals in a single World Cup.
The combined 10 goals were the most scored in a World Cup match since Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982.
The wounds from Wednesday's semifinal collapse against Argentina were still raw for Thomas Tuchel on a night that started with boos for the heavily criticized England manager and ended in a breathless bronze medal.
"It is the first medal in 60 years, the best World Cup on foreign soil, so I hope the players can be proud on that in some time," he told a postmatch news conference.
"We are fiercely competitive, so we almost don't allow ourselves to be proud with third place. Eighteen months ago, we set the highest goal, the highest dream to chase. We were very, very ambitious with our dream to make it to the final and win the World Cup, so it is very, very painful if you miss out. The pain will stay for a while but will go away, the scar will stay. This is how it is in high-level sport.
"You cannot worship this performance, this mentality today, high enough," he added. "We had one day less day to prepare, we had thousands and thousands of kilometers more in our bones and bodies, we come from altitude, we come from the heat over time, we come from playing with 10 men, and again we found a way."
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The Afro-Anglos won . Big deal . ; )
They beat the Afro-French. I guess that makes England the African Continental Champions.
I’ve seen better defense at NBA All-Star Games.
A “third-place finish”? How very European.
Why does France have so many Africans in their team? What happened to Frenchmen like Michele Platini?
Wow. It wasn’t 1-0.
Weren’t parts of Africa in France.
There. Fixed it.
I was thinking WNBA All Star games.
What happened to Frenchmen like Michele Platini?
Isn’t he Italian?
Did you see the England team?
Yep, the Over/Under for most soccer games is 1.
Crazy game
Of course when teams don’t play defense you’ll get ten goals.
This was basically like watching the Harlem Globetrotters. It’s entertaining, but it’s not basketball.
There is are many jokes about that. That being said, yes, there are a bunch of generational immigrants on those teams, but many are Christians feeling former lands.
Yep, there is a reason ‘Third Place Games’ used to be called ‘Consolation Games’.
No.
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