Three Lions Claim Bronze in 10-Goal Thriller: France vs England World Cup Third Place Play-Off Recap

Miami heats up for another European rivalry. In the Third Place Play-Off match, France and England face each other for the bronze medal.

(Image credit to reuters.com)

The historic battles that started with swords and shields between these nations, continue on the pitch nowadays with the same fierceness. The last time Les Bleus and Three Lions shared the world stage in Qatar, France managed to clear England from their path to the Final with a 2-1 victory. So, Three Lions are searching for redemption and also their first World Cup medal since the glory in 1966.

Les Bleus were brushed aside by Spain in the Semi-Finals, so Didier Deschamps’ farewell tour took a bitter turn to a possible bronze medal. The Frenchman finished his international player career after an England game 26 years ago and coincidentally, he goes up against the same team for his international management send-off as well. His captain Kylian Mbappe is still sharing the lead for Golden Boot with Lionel Messi, so this is his last chance to make a statement, before the Argentine appears in the Final. However, Les Bleus’ defensive structure is in doubt without William Saliba, who suffers from a back injury.

Meanwhile, England came here after a heartbreaking, but deserved last minute defeat against the reigning World Champions and Thomas Tuchel has been the target of critics ever since. The German is in need to redeem himself to the British people and media, so bringing the Three Lions their first bronze medal of the competition is a must. Once again, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are expected to make the difference for the Three Lions, but the defensive integrity is also questioned in the English side, who struggled to keep a clean sheet. In addition to Jordan Henderson, whose campaign already ended against Mexico, Reece James is also sidelined with injury concerns, but Jarell Quansah’s 2-game ban finally ends and will be available as a centre-back or right-back option.

Especially for big teams, considering this match’s stature as the game nobody wants to be involved in and yet needs to come out on top, it is possible to see some unusual players starting, who couldn’t get enough playing time during the World Cup so far. So, without further ado, let’s have a look at the starting elevens of the Third Place Play-Off game of the 2026 World Cup:

France XI: Maignan - Gusto - Konaté - Lacroix - Hernández - Zäire-Emery - Cherki - Rabiot - Olise - Doué - Mbappé

England XI: Henderson - Quansah - Konsa - Guéhi - Spence - Rice - Eze - Saka - Rogers - Rashford - Toney

(Image credit to bbc.com)

First Half

Unlike the Semi-Final games, this match starts very quickly with an early goal. Declan Rice benefits from a passing error by Doué, dribbles the ball towards the French box and finishes with a tidy distanced strike to put England into the lead in the 3rd minute. 15 minutes later, after Rashford’s wasted chance, Saka’s disallowed goal and Cherki’s denied opportunity by Dean Henderson, Three Lions extend their lead from a set piece. Ezri Konsa rises to Rice’s cross with a well-placed header to the far post and makes it 2-0 in the 18th minute. Captain Mbappé steps up to shake France off the shock and threatens the English goal three times in a span of 13 minutes. 

His first attempt in the 22nd minute just goes wide, the next one gets intercepted by Henderson first and denied by Guéhi completely. His last try in the 35th minute also gets parried away by Henderson and it comes with a cost afterwards. Saka and Rashford catch Les Bleus with lots of space on a counter-attack and despite Maignan’s and defence’s best efforts, the English duo link up successfully with Saka scoring England’s third goal in the 37th minute. 

Before the halftime whistle blows, Three Lions hit France with another shock. Eberechi Eze sets Saka up with a through ball into the French box, the Arsenal winger doesn’t turn down the delivery and puts the ball into France’s net for the fourth time in the 45+1th minute with a first time strike. The crazy first half ends with England’s shocking 4-0 lead.

(Image credit to zdfheute.de)

Second Half

After a disastrous first half, France come into the last 45 minutes with 4 new subs and they immediately show the effects. Just 3 minutes into the second half, Dayot Upamecano steals the ball from another fresh sub Ollie Watkins, dribbles further and passes to Olise. The Bayern winger puts Mbappé into a goal scoring position and Les Bleus get one back in the beginning of the second half. After Rabiot’s first time volley miss, this time Mbappé takes the conductor role in France’s second goal in the 54th minute, when he sends the ball into Barcola’s runway. 

The PSG winger dribbles from left into the English box and shoots the ball towards the near post to make it 4-2 with 36 minutes still left to play. As if the first half never happened, the entire momentum shifts to Les Bleus, who miss two more opportunities with Olise, after the second goal. However, he redeems himself in the 66th minute with another assist to Mbappe, who bags a brace by scoring France’s third goal and also becomes the top scorer in World Cup history with 22 goals in total. A stat as mad as this game, considering this is the Frenchman’s third World Cup. The gap goes down to 1 goal in this madness of a Third Place Play-Off, but action doesn’t know when to stop.

 First, Olise sends another shot wide in the England box in the 75th minute, then 5 minutes later, fresh reinforcement Jude Bellingham dribbles past the French defence, but fails to put the ball past Mike Maignan. And right after his miss, France triggers the game’s breaking moment, when a quick passing French attack ends up in another close range miss by Michael Olise with 10 minutes left to the added time. So many misses by the Frenchman come with a cost in the 87th minute. Malo Gusto’s sliding tackle brings down Spence in the France box and Bukayo Saka doesn’t miss the penalty to complete his hat-trick by scoring England’s fifth goal. 

Despite the once again increased gap and the diminishing time, Les Bleus have no intention to give up. They grab a fourth goal in the 90+6th minute with Ousmane Dembele, however Jude Bellingham gets the last laugh with the last kick of the game. Real Madrid midfielder benefits from an opening in the French defence thanks to Watkins and dribbles from midfield to right in front of Maignan. Despite French defence’s best efforts to stop him, he manages to put the ball into the opposition net for the sixth and last time, as Three Lions stand victorious with a completely unexpected 6-4 scoreline.

(Image credit to thesun.co.uk)

This mad victory brought England their first World Cup medal in six decades. Bukayo Saka deservedly claims the Superior Player of the Match Award after scoring three goals in the match, he was the difference-maker in Three Lions’ historic victory against France. With his contributions, he became the fourth Englishman in history to score a hat-trick in the World Cup. 

The first half was a dreamland for England, completely shocking France with quality transitions and finishing, however they may have come too relaxed to the second half, as they gave Les Bleus all the momentum to almost pull off a comeback. Giving away such a big lead at this stage will likely not leave a good taste in Three Lions and Thomas Tuchel’s mouth, despite the earned bronze medal.On the other hand, although they fell down 4 goals behind, France showed incredible hard work and character to keep themselves alive until the last minute. The substitutions paid off really well in the beginning of the second half and Mbappé turned up to score a brace. However, Michael Olise’s appalling finishing ruined Les Bleus’ chances to complete the comeback, despite his 2 assist contribution. Didier Deschamps bids a bitter farewell to international management, but he can be proud of the performance his team showed on the field until the dying minutes. France would surely love to give him a better send off.

(Image credit to sportsmole.co.uk)

Long story short, England and France gave us a 10-goal spectacle in the Third Place Play-Off game. The bronze medal found its owner and now it’s the turn for the silver medal and the golden cup everyone dreams of.

Article written by Emre Albas © Emre Albas 2026