World Cup: England win bronze medal for first time after big 6-4 victory over France

Caption: England players receive bronze medals after the match

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England finished third in the 2026 World Cup with a showpiece and high-scoring 6-4 win over France in Miami on Saturday, securing their best finish in the tournament since winning their only title in 1966.

In a match where both coaches fielded lineups with many reserve players after disappointing semi-final exits, England took a first-half lead with goals from Declan Rice (3), Ezri Konsa (18), and Bukayo Saka (37, 45+1).

The French tried to turn the tide with a hat-trick from Kylian Mbappé (48, 66) and a goal from Bradley Barcola (54), but Saka quelled the comeback with a penalty (87). Ousmane Dembélé gave France a final glimmer of hope (90+6), before Jude Bellingham ended their hopes (90+8).

World Cup: Bronze medal first for England, Mbappé becomes all-time top scorer in World Cup history

Despite the loss, Mbappé (27) broke the record for most goals in World Cup history (22) with his tenth goal of the current edition, one ahead of veteran Argentine Lionel Messi (21) who has 8 goals and plays in the final on Sunday against Spain in New Jersey.

Caption: Kylian Mbappé becomes all-time World Cup top scorer with 22 goals

This is the first time a World Cup match has seen 10 or more goals since 1982, when Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1, while the record stands at 12 goals.

Although the match does not reflect the good runs of both teams in the tournament, as they played with reserve lineups, France endured an embarrassing first half, conceding four goals for the first time in a major tournament, in both World Cup and European Championship combined.

The defeat was particularly harsh for France coach Didier Deschamps in his last match in charge of "Les Bleus", after 14 fruitful years in which he led them to the 2018 title and the 2022 runners-up spot.

Deschamps made extensive changes to his starting lineup that lost 0-2 to Spain in the semi-final, but included captain and top scorer Mbappé, who achieved an individual milestone by moving clear as all-time top scorer (22).

As for England's German coach Thomas Tuchel, he went further in making changes compared to the lineup that lost the semi-final to Argentina 1-2, keeping only three of the eleven starters.

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Achievements from the match

Bellingham set the absolute record for most goals scored by an English player in a single edition of the World Cup or European Championship, with seven goals.

England also set a record with six wins in a single edition of the World Cup.

Caption: Bukayo Saka wins man of the match award after scoring a hat-trick

Saka won the man of the match award after scoring a hat-trick.

Declan Rice needed just 134 seconds to score the second fastest goal for England in World Cup history.

His midfield colleague Bryan Robson still holds the fastest goal for England, scoring after just 28 seconds, ironically also against France in the 1982 edition.

Michael Olise increased his tally of assists in this World Cup to seven, the highest number achieved in a single edition of the tournament since the statistic began being recorded in 1966.

Pelé had created six goals for Brazil in the 1970 edition.

Kylian Mbappé reached his tenth goal in 8 matches, and only Sándor Kocsis with 11 goals for Hungary in 1954 and Just Fontaine with 13 goals for France in 1958 have scored more in a single World Cup edition.

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