Perhaps the Best Match of World Cup 2026 - England 6-4 France, Fair Play and Chaos
England beat France 6-4 in the bronze final. Saka hat-trick, Mbappe brace, 10 goals, few fouls, and maybe the most entertaining game of the tournament. Full chronology.
Perhaps England vs France was the best match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
It had everything football fans ask for - goals, intensity, nonstop action - without the negativity. The atmosphere was respectful. Both sides played football instead of provoking each other. Few fouls. Almost no unnecessary stoppages. Fair play from first whistle to last.
And then the scoreboard went mad: France 4-6 England in Miami. Ten goals. A Saka hat-trick. An Mbappe brace that briefly made him the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer. Bronze for England - their best finish since 1966.
Sometimes the best matches are not just about the score. They are about the quality of the football. This one delivered both.
Final score
| Match | Third-place playoff |
| Result | France 4-6 England |
| Date | Saturday, July 18, 2026 |
| Venue | Hard Rock Stadium, Miami |
| Attendance | 64,478 |
First World Cup game with 10+ goals since Hungary 10-1 El Salvador in 1982. First knockout match with that many since Austria 7-5 Switzerland in 1954.
Chronology
First half - England 4-0
| Minute | Goal |
|---|---|
| 3’ | Declan Rice - stylish strike from outside the box. England’s second-fastest World Cup goal (only Bryan Robson vs France in 1982 was faster) |
| 18’ | Ezri Konsa - makes it 2-0 |
| 37’ | Bukayo Saka - first of the night |
| 45+1’ | Bukayo Saka - second, through ball from Eberechi Eze. Half-time 0-4 |
Four goals. France staring at a historic thrashing. England, with seven changes from the Argentina semi and Kane/Bellingham on the bench, looked like they had nothing left to protect and everything left to enjoy.
Second half - France storm back, England survive
| Minute | Goal |
|---|---|
| 48’ | Kylian Mbappe - Olise invents the move. France on the board. Mbappe moves past Messi on the all-time World Cup scoring list |
| 54’ | Bradley Barcola - near-post finish. 2-4 |
| 66’ | Kylian Mbappe - again with Olise. 3-4. Game alive |
| 87’ | Bukayo Saka (pen) - Malo Gusto trips Djed Spence. Hat-trick. Fourth England player to do it at a men’s World Cup after Hurst, Lineker and Kane |
| 90+6’ | Ousmane Dembele - 4-5. Nerves again |
| 90+8’ | Jude Bellingham - solo run, tip-toes through the defence, slots home. 4-6. Done |
Olise finished with a tournament-record 7 assists. Mbappe left with 10 goals for the summer and a scoring record. England left with bronze and a night nobody will forget for the wrong reasons - because the football was too good.
How it felt
Two halves, one film. England annihilated the first 45. France refused to die in the second. What never arrived was the usual bronze-match cynicism - the time-wasting, the shirts pulled every five seconds, the referee as main character.
End-to-end attacking. Chances for both. A score that kept moving. And a crowd that got a final before the final.
Thomas Tuchel’s side end with third place on foreign soil - something England had never managed. Didier Deschamps walks away after 14 years with a defeat that still somehow felt like a proper goodbye: his team attacked until the clock ran out.
In short
- England 6-4 France - bronze, Miami, ten goals
- Saka hat-trick; Mbappe brace + all-time WC scoring mark; Bellingham seals it
- Fair, open, relentless - maybe the match of the tournament
- England’s best World Cup finish since 1966
The final is Spain vs Argentina. The best night of football might already have happened in Miami.