Let's be completely honest about third-place play-offs. Nobody really wants to play in them. The players are emotionally drained, the managers are already thinking about their holidays, and the fans are still recovering from the heartbreak of a semi-final exit.
But what just happened in Miami defies everything we know about these matches. England just beat France 6-4 in an absolute madness of a game. Ten goals. Non-stop drama. A historic hat-trick for Bukayo Saka. And a goalscoring record for Kylian Mbappe that pushes him past Lionel Messi into the stratosphere of football history.
It is England's best finish at a World Cup on foreign soil, and their best overall since lifting the trophy in 1966. Yet, watching Saka rip the French defence apart in the first half leaves you asking one massive question.
Why on earth did Thomas Tuchel leave him on the bench during the semi-final collapse against Argentina?
The first-half demolition nobody saw coming
Tuchel made sweeping changes to his starting eleven for this match. Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham dropped to the bench. In came Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford, playing with a point to prove.
It took just 134 seconds for things to click. Declan Rice caught the French midfield sleeping and struck a brilliant effort from outside the area to open the scoring. France looked completely uninterested. Didier Deschamps, managing his final game after 14 years in charge, looked completely checked out on the bench.
Before France could even muster a response, Ezri Konsa doubled the lead with a header in the 18th minute. Then, the Bukayo Saka show truly began.
Saka’s first came in the 37th minute. After a brilliant interchange with Rashford, Saka's initial shot was saved by Mike Maignan, but the Arsenal man reacted quickest to smash home the rebound. Deep into first-half stoppage time, Konsa turned playmaker, driving forward from the back to feed Saka, who finished with absolute clinical precision.
Four goals up at half-time against France. It felt completely unreal.
The Mbappe record and a chaotic second half
Deschamps clearly lost his temper at the break, later describing the first half as "catastrophic". He rang the changes, throwing on Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Dayot Upamecano, and Lucas Digne.
The tactical shake-up completely flipped the match. Suddenly, it was England who looked exhausted, feeling the heavy burden of the Miami heat and their recent extra-time exploits.
Kylian Mbappe began the fightback almost immediately. In the 48th minute, he combined with Michael Olise to net his ninth goal of the 2026 tournament, shifting himself clear of Messi in the Golden Boot race. Six minutes later, Barcola scored to make it 4-2.
Then came the moment history was rewritten. In the 66th minute, Mbappe slotted home his second of the afternoon from another Olise assist. It was his 22nd career World Cup goal. He is now, officially, the greatest goalscorer in World Cup history, flying past Messi's previous record.
Saka steps up to secure the bronze
With France pushing hard for a leveller and England completely on the ropes, the match swung back on a moment of rash defending. Malo Gusto clipped the heels of Djed Spence inside the penalty area.
Jude Bellingham, who had come off the bench, originally held the ball to take the spot-kick. Instead, he handed it over to Saka, giving his teammate the chance to rewrite the history books. Saka stepped up, coolly sent Maignan the wrong way, and secured his hat-trick.
In doing so, Saka became only the second Englishman ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup knockout game, matching Sir Geoff Hurst's iconic 1966 achievement.
Dembele grabbed another late consolation for France to make it 5-4, before Bellingham wrapped up the chaotic 6-4 scoreline in the 98th minute with a sensational solo goal. It was Bellingham’s seventh goal of the tournament, setting another individual record for an English player.
The lingering question for Thomas Tuchel
There's no point pretending this win fixes the heartbreak of Wednesday night. England were five minutes away from a World Cup final before their late collapse against Argentina.
Saka admitted after the match that he "would have loved to have played more" during the business end of the tournament. Watching him completely dismantle a world-class French side makes his omission against Argentina look like a massive tactical blunder from Tuchel.
If you want to look at the positives, England showed immense mental resilience to recover from a broken heart and secure a bronze medal in grueling physical conditions. They have a young, deeply talented core that will head into the next European Championship as legitimate heavyweights.
For now, the focus shifts to East Rutherford, where Argentina and Spain will battle it out to see who inherits France's crown. Keep your eyes locked right here, because our full tactical breakdown of the 2026 World Cup Final will drop immediately after the final whistle tomorrow.
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