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England beat France 6-4, Saka hat-trick in World Cup third-place game

sportsJul 19, 2026738,091

Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick as England beat France 6-4 to claim third place in the World Cup. England led 4-0 at half-time through goals by Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and two from Saka before France rallied after the break with two from Kylian Mbappé and a Bradley Barcola strike. Mbappé’s two goals took him to 22 World Cup goals, making him the tournament's all-time leading scorer ahead of Lionel Messi. Saka completed his treble from the penalty spot in the 87th minute after Malo Gusto fouled Djed Spence, and Ousmane Dembélé added a stoppage-time reply for France. Jude Bellingham sealed the win with a solo goal in the 98th minute, his seventh of the tournament and the most by an England player at a single World Cup. The result gives England their best men's World Cup finish since winning in 1966, and the match was the highest-scoring World Cup third-place game on record, with France conceding six for the first time in their history.

Howard Goodall
@howardgoodall.bsky.social

In an angry, divided world, this is a great image from last night's France-England game 👏

England and France players embracing at the end of a 10-goal World Cup football game for 3rd place
463210h ago
Quoting this
AmeriKraut234

the black employee post meeting meet up is universal ☝🏿

Chris Boyd12

(quietly, wiping a tear from one eye): oceans are now huggyfields

Zee Thee Mischievous9

I love how WE understand this picture on a whole different level.

Knitting Cat9

The mutual respect shown between all of the players, support staff & coaches was reassuring to see, after the match. In this world, we need to see this & not endless hatred. The best match of the tournament.

Roter Pixie 🔻8

Makes you wonder - would the people calling this beautiful, also call it beautiful if they were praying towards Mecca. Might want to look into the misogynistic, homophobe evangelical organization “ballers in god“ these players are a part of.

Kari 🇨🇦🐧💛5

En tk, c'est pas de même que la Bataille des Plaines s'est terminée 😬

Ren Zelen4

Because we’re all Europeans (and we should all be in the EU). France just gave our outgoing U.K. Prime Minister the Legion d'honneur. At this time in particular, Europe needs to hold together to forge ahead.

Ian Cambrook3

The beautiful game #France 🇫🇷 v England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #WorldCup2026 ⚽️

AMR2

This corrupt World Cup got cleansed a little by the 3rd place match, which should've been the final in my opinion. So happy I got to watch all the players behave like normal footballers after the match. Laughing, hugging each other, exchanging jerseys... good for you guys.

Miriam Taylor Greenwood🇺🇦2

I don't do football, but the image here is powerful enough to share.

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