England hold off France to win all-time WC thrille...

James OlleyJul 18, 2026, 05:20 PM ET

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James Olley is a senior soccer writer for ESPN.com. Read his archive here and follow him on Twitter: @JamesOlley.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Bukayo Saka's hat trick helped England survive a dramatic second-half comeback to beat France 6-4 in Saturday's chaotic third-place playoff and secure their best finish at a World Cup since 1966.

England were up 4-0 at the break in Miami as a shambolic France side was dismantled through goals from Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa and two Saka strikes.

Both teams made seven changes following their semifinal defeats, but in his final match in charge after 14 years at the helm, France's Didier Deschamps introduced four substitutes at halftime including Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola in an attempt to trigger a response.

It began just three minutes after the restart. Michael Olise found Kylian Mbappé in space and his first-time left-foot finish beat Dean Henderson.

Six minutes later, Mbappé turned provider, sending Barcola clear to finish inside Henderson's near post before Mbappé finished another France move to score his 10th goal of the tournament.

Mbappé's brace moved him ahead of Lionel Messi as the men's all-time World Cup goal scorer on 22 goals. He is two clear of Messi in the race for the Golden Boot at the tournament in North America ahead of Argentina's World Cup final against Spain on Sunday.

Olise, whose seven assists in a single World Cup campaign is another record, missed a glorious chance to equalize, somehow side-footing wide from 12 yards out, before England finally steadied themselves.

Djed Spence burst into the box on the overlap and was brought down by Malo Gusto. Saka converted the 87th-minute penalty to become only the fourth men's player to score a World Cup hat trick for England.

There was still time for France to respond again as Dembélé cut in on his left foot to finish, but substitute Jude Bellingham had the final say, driving into the box before finishing from close range to secure a memorable win.

Bellingham's late strike made him the first Englishman to score seven goals in a single World Cup campaign.

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The 10 goals were the most scored in a World Cup match since Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982.

Information from ESPN's Global Sports Research contributed to this report.