Bulletin: England Third 🥉 — 6-4 vs France, Saka Hat-Trick, Bellingham Record

🥉 THIRD PLACE — 18 JULY 2026

Published: Saturday 18 July 2026 · Hard Rock Stadium, Miami

England's Best World Cup in 60 Years. Six Goals. Ten Goals. A Night No One Will Forget.

England beat France 6-4 in Miami in one of the most extraordinary matches in World Cup history. Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick. Jude Bellingham broke England's all-time World Cup goals record with a 90+8' winner. England finish third — their best World Cup result since 1966. And on Wednesday, they pushed the world champions, Argentina, all the way to the wire in Atlanta before losing 1-2 in the semi-final. This is the tournament England will talk about for decades.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England 6–4 🇫🇷 France — The Greatest Third Place Match in World Cup History

Third-Place Play-Off · Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens · Saturday 18 July 2026 · 10:00 PM BST

3RD PLACE PLAY-OFF · HARD ROCK STADIUM, MIAMI GARDENS

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

ENGLAND

6 – 4

Full Time

🇫🇷

FRANCE

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ENGLAND

Rice 3' · Konsa 18' · Saka 37', 45+1', 87' (pen) · Bellingham 90+8'

🇫🇷 FRANCE

Mbappé 48', 66' · Barcola 54' · Dembélé 90+6'

⚽ Saka Hat-Trick 37', 45+1', 87' (pen)

🏆 Bellingham Record-Breaker 90+8'

Referee: Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela) · Att: 64,478

Ten goals. Two hat-trick threats. A match that swung from 3-0 to 3-4 and back to 6-4. No lead felt safe. No moment felt routine. Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens hosted the most extraordinary third-place play-off in World Cup history — and England were the ones who stood at the end, bronze medals around their necks, having delivered their finest moment in tournament football since the summer of 1966.

Bukayo Saka was extraordinary. Jude Bellingham was historic. Thomas Tuchel called it "England's biggest success in 60 years." Declan Rice said it was "the best England team for a long time — that's a fact." This was no consolation match. This was a statement.

⚡ Match Timeline: All Ten Goals

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 RICE GOAL — 1-0

Declan Rice, barely three minutes in, arrived at the back post to meet a whipped Trippier cross and headed powerfully into the net. England's captain — who had been immense across this entire tournament — opened the scoring with authority. Miami's neutrals were on their feet almost before anyone had settled in their seats. England had the perfect start.

18'

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 KONSA GOAL — 2-0

Ezri Konsa — starting at centre-back in what was one of the tournament's most consistent defensive performances across the whole competition — rose highest from a corner to head England into a 2-0 lead. His goal came amid waves of England possession, France utterly unable to find their rhythm in the opening quarter. At 2-0, it felt like a comfortable evening lay ahead. It did not.

37'

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 SAKA GOAL (1) — 3-0

Bukayo Saka's first. A driving run from the right — past two French challenges — ending with a composed left-foot finish inside the far post. Maignan had no chance. Tuchel had been managing Saka carefully all tournament because of his achilles; here, with England's World Cup days running out, Saka played as though there was no tomorrow. Three-nil with eight minutes of the first half remaining. The BBC commentary box called it "serene." It was about to become anything but.

45+1'

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 SAKA GOAL (2) — 4-0

First-half stoppage time, and Saka was at it again. A rapid counter-attack, Bellingham's incisive through-ball splitting the French defence, and Saka was one-on-one with Maignan — calm, precise, and ruthless. Four-nil at half-time. England had never led a World Cup match 4-0 at the break in the knockout stage. Tuchel's half-time team talk, remarkably, was a warning. He'd watched France enough to know they would come back. He was absolutely right.

48'

🇫🇷 MBAPPÉ GOAL — 4-1

Kylian Mbappé, the tournament's top scorer with nine going into this match, emerged from the half-time interval as though personally affronted by the scoreline. Three minutes into the second half he received the ball on the left, cut inside Trippier, and curled a sublime right-foot shot into the far top corner. Pickford got fingers to it. The ball still went in. 4-1. France were back in the match, and the change of energy in the stadium was palpable. Every England fan held their breath.

54'

🇫🇷 BARCOLA GOAL — 4-2

Bradley Barcola, France's electric left winger, had been quiet in the first half. He was not quiet now. Dembélé carried the ball forward and slipped it to Barcola running on the overlap; Barcola's first touch was perfect, the second a finish driven low into the near corner before Pickford could set himself. 4-2. Six minutes and France had halved the deficit. The 64,000 inside Hard Rock were watching this shift in real time and couldn't believe what was unfolding.

66'

🇫🇷 MBAPPÉ GOAL — 4-3

Mbappé's second. Unstoppable. From virtually nothing — a loose ball in midfield, a shimmy to lose Walker, then a burst of pace into the penalty area — Mbappé dragged a shot that clipped the inside of the post and rolled in. Three France goals in eighteen second-half minutes. 4-3. England's commanding lead had become a nervewracking one-goal advantage. Tuchel was on his feet, arms gesturing. The Mbappé who was retiring from international football after this tournament was determined to go out in style.

87'

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 SAKA PENALTY — 5-3 (HAT-TRICK)

The moment Bukayo Saka became a World Cup hero. Upamecano brought down Bellingham inside the area — referee Valenzuela pointed immediately to the spot. Saka stepped up. The weight of the moment was real: England's tournament ending, the score teetering, a hat-trick in the balance. He sent Maignan the wrong way with a composed side-foot finish to the right. Hat-trick. 5-3. A two-goal cushion with three minutes to play. England's bench erupted. Tuchel buried his face in his hands.

90+6'

🇫🇷 DEMBÉLÉ GOAL — 5-4

Ousmane Dembélé — who at times played as though this tournament was simply too small for him — cut in from the right and fired low past Pickford in the sixth minute of added time. 5-4. France had pulled one back. England had one foot on the bronze medal. They needed one more moment. They needed Bellingham.

90+8'

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 BELLINGHAM — 6-4 · RECORD-BREAKER

Jude Bellingham. Eighth minute of injury time. England broke forward on the counter, the ball came to Bellingham twenty yards from goal with one French defender ahead of him. He hit it first time — a clean, fierce strike with his left foot that flew into the bottom right corner before Maignan could react. Bellingham wheeled away, arms wide, screaming into the Miami night. His seventh goal of the tournament, breaking England's all-time World Cup goals record. Final score: England 6, France 4. Third place. Sixty years in the waiting. It was done.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 FULL TIME — ENGLAND THIRD IN THE WORLD

The whistle. The pitch invasion of emotions. England players on their knees, in tears, embracing. Tuchel embracing his staff. Harry Kane, tournament golden boot contender with six goals, picking up a bronze medal at his first World Cup. Declan Rice, the captain, collecting his. Marc Guehi — who publicly called out the eye-watering ticket prices afterwards — carrying a bronze medal he thoroughly deserved. England had done it. Third place. Their best since 1966.

📊 Match Stats

MATCH STATS

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 6Goals4 🇫🇷

8Shots on Target8

46%Possession54%

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England

🇫🇷 France

SAKA'S NIGHT

⚽

Hat-Trick — 3 Goals

37' (drive) · 45+1' (1v1) · 87' (pen)

🎯

Man of the Match

Unanimous · BBC, ITV, FIFA

💬

Tuchel: "Too good to leave out"

Managed his achilles all tournament

TOURNAMENT GOALS: 6 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

🏆 BELLINGHAM — ENGLAND'S WORLD CUP RECORD-BREAKER

Tournament Goals

Record Broken

90+8'

Record Goal

🥉

3rd Place

Bellingham's 90+8' strike was his seventh goal of the tournament, breaking England's all-time World Cup goals record in the most dramatic possible fashion. He ends the tournament among the top three scorers, behind only Kylian Mbappé (10) and Lionel Messi (8). "This group gave everything," Bellingham said post-match. "Sixty years. That means something."

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England 1–2 🇦🇷 Argentina — The Semi-Final That Hurt

Semi-Final · Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta · Tuesday 15 July 2026 · 8:00 PM BST

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

ENGLAND

1 – 2

Full Time

🇦🇷

ARGENTINA

⚽ Gordon 55' | Fernández 85' · La. Martínez 90+2'

Referee: Ismail Elfath (USA) · Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

England's run to the final was extinguished in the most painful of fashions: two goals in the final five minutes, both late, both gut-punching, both scored by substitutes carrying the full weight of Argentina's determination. England had been the better side for fifty-five minutes. Anthony Gordon's goal just after the hour — his first of the tournament — gave England the lead and made an unlikely World Cup final feel entirely possible.

Then Argentina arrived. Enzo Fernández drove forward from midfield in the 85th minute and struck a thunderous shot past Pickford from the edge of the area. One-one. The stadium held its breath. And then — in the second minute of injury time — Lautaro Martínez latched onto a loose clearance and finished clinically, sending 68,000 neutral fans inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium into a frenzy, and England fans into a stunned silence.

THE ROAD THAT GOT ENGLAND TO THE SEMIS

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England 4-2 🇭🇷 CroatiaW · Group Stage

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England 0-0 🇬🇭 GhanaD · Group Stage

🇵🇦 Panama 0-2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EnglandW · Group Stage

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England 2-1 🇨🇩 DR CongoW · Round of 32

🇲🇽 Mexico 2-3 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EnglandW · Round of 16

🇳🇴 Norway 1-2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England (AET)W · Quarter-Final

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England 1-2 🇦🇷 ArgentinaL · Semi-Final

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England 6-4 🇫🇷 FranceW · 3rd Place 🥉

🏆 England's Scorers — This Tournament

⚽ England Goalscorers — All 20 Goals

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Jude Bellingham

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Harry Kane

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Bukayo Saka

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Declan Rice

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Ezri Konsa

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Anthony Gordon

England total: 20 goals in 8 matches · Best WC finish since 1966

🌍 What Happens Now — The Final Is TODAY

🏆 2026 FIFA WORLD CUP FINAL — TODAY

🇪🇸

SPAIN

The Final

🇦🇷

ARGENTINA

MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey · 8:00 PM BST · BBC One / ITV1

The team that beat England in Atlanta — Argentina — now faces Spain in the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. England's former conquerors are 90 minutes from back-to-back World Cup titles.

🏆 FINAL PREVIEW

Argentina vs Spain — Full preview, team news, how to watch →

💬 What They Said

"England's biggest success in 60 years. This group should be incredibly proud. We played some magnificent football."

— Thomas Tuchel, England manager

"Best England team for a long time — that's a fact. We've shown what we're capable of."

— Declan Rice, England captain

"Proud doesn't cover it. This tournament, this squad, this staff — I'll remember this for the rest of my life."

— Bukayo Saka

"Third place sounds like a consolation. It isn't. England haven't finished this high since 1966. Context matters."

— Gary Lineker, BBC Sport

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