A rampant England stunned woeful France with four first-half goals before Les Bleus finally began to fight back after the break as the teams conclude their World Cup 2026 campaign down in Miami with the bronze final.
The game that nobody wants to play sees the Three Lions attempt to pick themselves up after being floored by Argentina’s late show in Atlanta, and they did that in style as Declan Rice rifled home a long-range stunner with just three minutes on the clock before Ezri Konsa nodded in Rice’s corner on 18 minutes and Bukayo Saka bagged two goals in the final eight minutes of the first half to hold an incredible 4-0 lead.
But after presumably being given a half-time rocket by departing coach Didier Deschamps – in his final game after 14 years at the helm – Les Bleus came out firing after the break as Kylian Mbappe slotted home to take the lead in his hard-fought Golden Boot battle with Lionel Messi and Bradley Barcola narrowed the gap to 4-2 before the hour mark.
The aftermath of England’s semi-final defeat had seen Thomas Tuchel’s reputation shredded by parts of the media and fans, including President Donald Trump mentioning his strategy following Anthony Gordon’s opener.
Follow all the action with our live blog below:
Goal!! England 4-2 France
67 mins: Mbappe has done it again!! Olise leaves a great dummy for Mbappe who plays a sumptuous one-two with the Bayern player and finished it with power and precision.
England are looking incredibly vulnerable
England 4-2 France
65 mins: Dembele mishits a near perfect chance and Henderson happily collects.
France are back on top now after England have had few good chances to try and reinstate a more comfortable lead.
England 4-2 France
61 mins: A lazy pass from Rogers is almost punished as Olise, who pushed his shot wide of the mark.
Rice is beginning to look tired – he was struggling to track back to stop Olise.
England 4-2 France
59 mins: Another searching corner from Rice is headed goalward by Toney, but Maignan pulls off a cat-like save, dropping to his right-hand side to stop it finding the net.
England 4-2 France
57 mins: England look shell shocked here, France have given back their first half intensity with interest. Every throw-in and every goal kick is being taken quickly and holes in England’s line are emerging quickly.
If France can sustain this when England make more changes, its going to be a long final third of the game for the Three Lions.
Goal!! England 4-2 France
54 mins: This game is officially back on as a stationary England are punished by a stunning ball to Barcola, who has all the time in the world to slot it past Henderson.
Its a completely different France team, they are playing angry now. They will not be embarrassed
England 4-1 France
51 mins: This is much much better from France, They are pressing high and playing everything quick and early.
Whatever Deschamps said in the dressing room, clearly worked.
Goal!! England 4-1 France
48 mins: That is exactly the response Deschamps would have wanted. Upamecano dispossesses Watkins and the ball finds its way to Olise who slides it through the disjointed England defence to Mbappe who was never going to miss.
Much more intensity from the French already.
And of course, in the race for the Golden Boot, Mbappe now moves ahead of Lionel Messi. Not bad for what could be a consolation goal.
England 4-0 France
We are back underway for the second-half in this bizarre Bronze Final as England look to pick up where they left off and France will be hoping to scrub that first 45 mins from the record.
France are bringing on the big guns as Hernandez, Konate, Doue and Cherki make way for Digne, Upamecano, Barcola and Dembele.
Its a single change for England as Rashford is replaced by Ollie Watkins who makes his first appearance since the game against Panama.
