Saka’s Night in Miami: England Beat France 6-4 in a Third-Place Game Nobody Wanted and Nobody Will Forget

France 4-6 England — FIFA World Cup third-place playoff, Miami Stadium, 18 July

Goals: Rice 3, Konsa 18, Saka 37, 45+2, 87 (pen), Bellingham 90+8; Mbappe 48, 66, Barcola 54, Dembele 90+6

France National Football Team vs England National Football Team Timeline

For those who want the madness minute by minute, here is how the night unfolded. Rice opened the scoring after just 3 minutes, Konsa doubled the lead from his corner on 18, and Saka struck twice — on 37 and in first-half stoppage time — to send England in 4-0 up.

Mbappe answered within three minutes of the restart, laid on Barcola’s thumping finish on 54, then wrote his name into history with the record-breaking third on 66. Saka restored breathing room from the penalty spot on 87, Dembele curled in a 96th-minute reply, and Bellingham had the final word two minutes after that. Ten goals, and not one of them cheap.

From the start!

Nobody grows up dreaming of a bronze medal. Ask any England player who trudged off the pitch in Atlanta on Wednesday night after the Argentina defeat, and they would have told you the third-place playoff was a game they could happily have skipped. Then Saturday evening in Miami happened, and suddenly it felt like the match of the tournament.

England 6, France 4. Ten goals, a Bukayo Saka hat-trick, a world record for Kylian Mbappe, and a finish so frantic that two of the goals arrived after the clock had ticked past 95 minutes. England leave this World Cup with their best finish since 1966, and they did it in the strangest, most chaotic game most of us can remember watching.

A First Half That Felt Like a Rout

It started, of all things, with a rout. Thomas Tuchel had heard his name booed by travelling supporters before kick-off, the wounds from the semi-final still raw, and his response was to rotate heavily — Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Jordan Pickford all began on the bench in the sticky 89-degree Florida heat.

Whatever the mood in the stands, the players never got the memo. Three minutes in, Declan Rice pounced on a careless French pass and lashed a finish that flew in before Mike Maignan could set himself. By the 18th minute Rice had turned provider, whipping in the corner that Ezri Konsa rose to head home.

France, playing Didier Deschamps’ final match after 14 years in charge, looked like a team already on the beach. Saka made them pay twice before the break. First he was quickest to react when Marcus Rashford’s one-on-one was kept out, tucking away the rebound on 37 minutes.

Then, in first-half stoppage time, he ran onto Eberechi Eze’s through-ball and drilled it low into the corner. Four-nil at half-time. Game over, surely.

Not even close.

Mbappe Rewrites History as France Roar Back

Whatever Deschamps said in that dressing room, it worked. Mbappe side-footed one home within three minutes of the restart, then teed up Bradley Barcola to hammer a second past Dean Henderson at his near post on 54 minutes.

When Mbappe exchanged a slick one-two with Michael Olise and finished beautifully in the 66th, the comeback was fully on — and the France captain had just become the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer, his 22nd goal in the competition taking him past everyone who has ever played the game. History made, and England wobbling badly.

Saka From the Spot, Bellingham at the Death

Olise spurned two glorious chances to level it, and you could feel the nerves of Atlanta creeping back into English legs. The rescue came from Djed Spence, who drew a clumsy challenge from Malo Gusto in the box with three minutes left. Saka stepped up, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way, and became just the fourth Englishman to score a World Cup hat-trick.

Even then the drama refused to stop. Ousmane Dembele curled a gorgeous effort into the corner in the 96th minute to make it 5-4 and set up a nervy finale — which lasted all of two minutes, until substitute Bellingham dribbled into the area, rounded his man and slid home the tenth goal of the night.

It was Bellingham’s seventh of the tournament, the most an England player has ever scored at a single major tournament.

‘I Try to Do My Talking on the Pitch’

“It was like four matches — what happened here,” Tuchel said afterwards, admitting he had lost track of the scorers and had no idea Saka had completed a hat-trick. The winger himself was more pointed.

Left as an unused substitute in the semi-final, Saka was asked whether he should have played more this summer. “Of course, I would love to have played more,” he said. “But I try to do my talking on the pitch. It’s done now. Move on.”

That question will follow Tuchel all the way home. Saka and Rashford were electric on Saturday having been ignored when it mattered most against Argentina, and the debate over the manager’s semi-final tactics is not going anywhere.

But for one humid night in Miami Gardens, England played with total freedom, scored six against a two-time world champion, and gave their supporters something no side has managed in 60 years: a top-three finish at a World Cup.

Farewell Deschamps, Roll On 2028

France, meanwhile, wave goodbye to Deschamps, with Zinedine Zidane expected to take over. Mbappe leaves with the record and, barring a Lionel Messi miracle in Sunday’s final against Spain, the Golden Boot too, now two goals clear at the top of the chart.

Bronze has never felt so heavy with meaning. Next stop for this England side: a home Euros in 2028. On this evidence, they might just want to let Saka start.