England beat France 6-4 in the World Cup third-place playoff in Miami on July 18, 2026, the highest-scoring match at the tournament since Hungary's 10-1 rout of El Salvador in 1982. England raced to a 4-0 halftime lead on a Bukayo Saka hat-trick plus goals from Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa, before France stormed back with two strikes from Kylian Mbappé and one from Ousmane Dembélé to close the gap to 4-3. England held on and sealed the win with a stoppage-time goal from Jude Bellingham.
Mbappé's brace lifted his career World Cup tally to 22 goals across three tournaments, surpassing Lionel Messi's all-time record of 21. Bellingham finished as England's top scorer for the tournament with seven goals, and the Golden Boot race between Mbappé and Messi remains tight heading into Sunday's final.
Argentina now face Spain in that final, with Argentina chasing back-to-back titles last achieved by Brazil in 1958 and 1962, while Spain are bidding for only their second world championship since 2010.