Read 3 minutes19 Jul 2026 05:34 AM IST
Bukayo Saka’s hat trick would steal the spotlight England beat France 6-4 In the third place match of the World Cup, midfielder Jude Bellingham quietly entered the record books and at the same time became the highest goalscorer for an English player in a single edition of the World Cup with 7 strikes.
Bellingham scored England’s 6th goal past France’s Mike Mignon in 90+8 minutes in a 10-goal thriller in Miami.
In the match, England held off a strong fightback from France to win 6–4, securing their third place in the World Cup since their only title in 1966.
In a match where defending was an afterthought, Kylian Mbappe scored twice to become the World Cup’s all-time top scorer as France came from 4-0 down to come within a handful of missed chances to equalise.
Bukayo Saka completed a hat-trick from the penalty spot three minutes from time to make it 5-3 and calm England’s nerves, scoring twice in the first half after goals from Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa got England off to a good start.
Ousmane Dembele’s late strike still had time to give France some hope, but late substitute Bellingham scored his seventh goal of the tournament in stoppage time.
France’s 6–3 win over West Germany in the 1958 tournament had the highest total of 10 goals for a third-place playoff match.
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France, hoping to send 2018 World Cup-winning coach Didier Deschamps home with victory in his final game in charge, took his tournament tally to 10 goals with Mbappe’s second-half double.
This moved him two ahead of Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer, and overtook the Argentine as the all-time World Cup leading scorer with 22.
The 39-year-old Messi will have another chance to extend his stature when Argentina take on Spain in the final at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday.
The battle for third place is a match that neither team wants to play, and both coaches have replaced their teams with Deschamps second-string defence.
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Thomas Tuchel’s side, fed up with criticism of England’s inaction in the second half of their semi-final defeat to Argentina, attacked from the kickoff and Rice scored the opening goal in the third minute.
Even with Bellingham and Harry Kane on the bench, England played a wide range of forward passes and many found their way through the French defence.
The second half was all France, Mbappe’s two goals either side of a Bradley Barkola strike reduced the deficit to 4-3 in the 66th minute.
Defensively, England tried to attack when there were opportunities and finished third for the first time since missing out on the playoffs in 1990 and 2018.
(with agency input)