England transformed the Miami pitch into Wimbledon grass and closed out the final with a 6-4 score that secured them third place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. at the expense of France in a spectacular match with incredible pace. The English, who left Kane and Bellingham on the bench, gifted themselves their best finish in sixty years. The 0-4 lead to the Three Lions at halftime suggested a game without a fight. Instead, France, faltering defensively, resurfaced in the second half, managing to reduce the deficit to 3-4 and coming close to redressing the scoreline a couple of times. The introduction of Jude Bellingham With 10 minutes remaining, England regained their attacking momentum, finding the net again through Bukayo Saka, who then passed the ball to Bellingham for his hat-trick. After another flash of pride from the French, they again pulled one back in injury time, but Bellingham finally sealed the score at 6-4 in the 95th minute, forcing his way through the opposing defense.
While Bellingham became the most prolific English player in the history of the World Cup finals, Kylian Mbappé cemented his place in the scoring charts with a brace that took him to 10 goals in eight games, along with four assists—the same number as Leo Messi, who scored eight goals before playing in the title final. Only Sandor Kocsis (11 for Hungary in 1954) and Just Fontaine (13 for France in 1958) have done better than Mbappé.
The choice of Tuchel The loss of England's two key players, Bellingham and Kane, from the first minute raised some doubts, which were quickly dispelled. In the first 18 minutes, England found themselves two goals up and with a couple of other important chances, including a goal disallowed for Saka. In the 3rd minute Rice he scored the winning right-footed shot from outside the area and in the 18th minute the same director, this time from a corner, found the net Konsa in the middle of the area for the doubling. France left plenty of space for the English and Saka He scored the third goal in the 37th minute against an unguarded goal and then completed his brace in the first minute of injury time.
After the break, Deschamps made four substitutions, giving the team a boost. Upamecano, one of the four substitutes, stole the ball from Watkins in midfield and then passed it to Olise for the goal. Kylian Mbappé. Five minutes later, the captain of the Bleus also sent the ball towards goal. Bradley Barcola for 2-4. The match was completely reopened when the number 10 and captain of France He also scored his 10th goal with more than twenty minutes to play, in which Les Bleus had the chances for a sensational comeback, all wasted by Olise, who has also provided seven assists for his teammates in eight games. With three minutes to go then Bukayo Saka scored the hat-trickconverting the penalty caused by Malo Gusto's tackle on Spence in the penalty area. In injury time there was also room for the goal of Ousmane Dembélé e Jude Bellingham for the final 4-6.
“It is not from this match that you can judge 14 years, I had the great pleasure of leading the French national team and winning the World Cup in 2018 – declared the French coach Didier Deschamps "France has some important young players, and I'm optimistic about the future. I'm proud of what I've achieved in recent years. Mbappé? He's a champion on and off the pitch. He still has many years ahead of him to prove himself a world-class star. As captain, he did everything with the team in mind, and he always knows how to make the difference.".
“Bukayo Saka has proven to be a key player, but I had no doubts – the words of Thomas Tuchel, English coach – We had a great first half today and a turbulent second half. The one-day difference in the schedule also brings these differences on the pitch, so I have the utmost respect for the mentality we showed.".
