The Three Lions of England survived a late scare against France to clinch the bronze medal at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, holding on for a thrilling 6-4 victory over Les Bleus at the Miami Stadium. 

It was a game that had looked one-sided as England raced to a 4-0 lead in the first half. Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, who was an unused substitute in the semi-final defeat to Argentina, was the star of the show, grabbing a brace to complement Declan Rice’s third-minute opener and Ezri Konsa’s strike in the 18th minute.

It was a disasterclass in defending from France, who seemed more interested in attacking as they maintained a high defensive line while applying little to no defensive pressure on Thomas Tuchel’s side. It all seemed like it was heading for a routine England victory, but the flurry of changes made by both sides at the break should have hinted at what was to come.

About three minutes into the restart, Kylian Mbappé reduced the deficit to overtake Lionel Messi in the Golden Boot race, before substitute Bradley Barcola halved the lead to put the 2022 finalists firmly back into the game. The usual suspect, Mbappé, then struck again with a clinical finish to become the highest goalscorer in World Cup history while extending his lead in this year’s Golden Boot race to 12 goals.

However, whatever hopes and momentum France had of completing the comeback were quickly squashed after Malo Gusto’s poor challenge on Djed Spence handed England a penalty, which Saka calmly converted to complete his hat-trick. Ousmane Dembélé reduced the deficit to one again for France in the sixth minute of added time, but substitute Jude Bellingham netted the final goal of the game in the 98th minute to seal the Three Lions’ best World Cup finish since their 1966 triumph.

The #ThreeLions‘ best-ever World Cup finish on foreign soil 👊 pic.twitter.com/AUVdkZzAGB

— England (@England) July 18, 2026