The World Cup third-place match turned into a true spectacle, making fans experience the full range of emotions. The encounter between the England and France national teams began with total dominance by the British, but in the second half, the French staged an incredible comeback, bringing the intrigue back into the game.
The England team managed to surprise the opponent with a lightning-fast attack: Declan Rice opened the scoring as early as the 3rd minute. Fifteen minutes later, Rice made the assist – Ezri Konsa scored England's second goal. Bukayo Saka then completed his brace: first, he scored from Marcus Rashford's pass, and second, Eberechi Eze provided the assist.
With the score at 0:4, there was little suspense left in the match. But at the start of the second half, the French team scored three goals in 18 minutes! Michael Olise made another perfect pass to Kylian Mbappé, who broke the deadlock. Mbappé then set up Bradley Barcola for a great shot, and Barcola left goalkeeper Henderson with no chance.
In the 66th minute, the Olise-Mbappé tandem worked again: Kylian completed his brace and brought the suspense back into the match. Eventually, the 3:4 score held until the 87th minute, when Bukayo Saka converted a penalty.
Final surge and historic achievement
To conclude, France managed to get one goal closer to their opponent: in stoppage time, Ousmane Dembélé finished another French attack, but Didier Deschamps' team could not save themselves from defeat. In the end, Jude Bellingham put the final nail in the coffin, scoring in the eighth minute of added time.
The England team won medals at the World Cup for the first time since 1966, when they became world champions. In 1990 and 2018, English footballers lost the third-place match.
The French team remained without World Cup medals for the first time in three consecutive tournaments: in 2018, the French won the tournament, and in 2022, they lost in the final to the Argentina team.
Earlier, we talked about how the Argentina team might face punishment for the provocative celebration of their victory over England in the World Cup 2026 semi-final.
