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As Mbappe, Bellingham, Saka, Make History
- Safiu Kehinde
The 2026 FIFA World Cup’s Third-Place match went far beyond fans’ expectation as England survived France’s scare in a 10-goal thriller to claim the third-place bronze.
Having both been knocked out in the semi-finals by Argentina and Spain respectively, the Three Lions and the Les Bleus were pitched to fight for the third-place finish at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
The game started with England pulling the first shocker as Declan Rice gave the Three Lions the lead barely three minutes into the game.
Rice fired the ball from outside the 18-yard, beating French goalkeeper, Mike Maignan, to give England 1-0 lead
The Arsenal midfielder’s goal marked the beginning of an awful first-half performance from France who appeared out of shape.
England would double the lead as Ezri Konsa headed home a corner kick from Rice, making the game 2-0.
France’s woe would be compounded in the 35th minute as Bukayo Saka made it three for England.
The Les Bleus desperate search for goals was punished though a counter-attack propelled by Marcus Rashford who initially attempted to score after a solo run towards the French goal mouth.
Maignan denied Rashford a one-on-one opportunity, but the ball found its way back to the English forward.
Rashford released the ball to a free Saka who slotted it into the back of the net.
Saka would make it four in the 46th minute as he fired home a sublime pass from fellow Arsenal’s teammate, Eberechi Eze.
With the first half ending 4-0 in favour of England, France humbly left the pitch after what had largely been considered their worst halftime performance in decades.
In a twist of event, the Didier Deschamps-led side returned to the pitch with a fresh determination to do the unexpected.
They tend to have shrugged off their first-half horror show as they regained control of the game.
The 2018 World Cup winners’ captain, Kylian Mbappe, pulled one back for the team barely two minutes into the second half.
France’s resurgence appeared to have sent England back to their cave as Bradley Barcola reduced the deficit against with a second goal in the 54th minute.
Mbappe again rose to the occasion in the 65th minute as he scored his second goal of the night to draw France closer to a dramatic comeback.
Aside bring the game to 4-3, the Real Madrid’s forward’s brace saw him become World Cup’s All-Time Goalscorer with 22 goals.
Fortunately, England found redemption in the 85th minute after Malo Gusto fouled Djed Spence in the penalty box, giving the Three Lions a chance to double the lead again.
Saka, who already had two goals to his name, was handed the ball by Jude Bellingham to complete his hattrick and become the 4th player in England’s history to score a hat-trick for the country in a World Cup tournament.
This came at the expense of Bellingham who sacrificed the chance to become England’s highest goal scorer in a single World Cup tournament.
With barely three minutes left before final whistle, an injury on Djed Spence gave France an opening to pull another string of comeback as the Les Bleus capitalised on the brief absence of the defender to again reduced the deficit to 4-5 courtesy Ousmane Dembele’s 95th minute goal.
Providence eventually shone on Bellingham seconds to the final whistle as the midfielder’s clinical finish after a solo run saw England won the game by 6-4.
This also saw Bellingham become the English player in modern history with the most goals (seven) scored in a single World Cup tournament.
The nerve-wrenching match also set a new of its own as the World Cup match with the highest goal scored since 1982.