England beat France 6-4 in a remarkable 10-goal thriller to secure third place at the 2026 World Cup.

Both managers made several changes following their semi-final defeats, but neither side held back. England and France attacked throughout and produced one of the tournament’s most chaotic encounters, despite the intense Miami heat.

Here are our Scout Notes from Saturday night’s third-place play-off, featuring match stats from our World Cup Toolkit page.

FRANCE 4-6 ENGLAND

• Goals: Saka x3, Konsa, Rice, Bellingham | Mbappe x2, Dembele, Barcola
• Assists: Rice, Rashford, Eze | Olise x2, Mbappe, Upamecano
• Tackles bonus: Rice, Saka | Olise, Rabiot
• Chances created bonus: Rashford | Olise
• Shots on target bonus: Mbappe
• Top points scorers: Saka (21) | Mbappe (17)

TEAM STATS

PLAYER STATS

SCOUT NOTES

• There was some indication that both England and France would rotate in the pre-match press conferences, but neither manager revealed which players would come in. Fortunately for Fantasy managers, the starting line-ups were released before the deadline.
• England made several changes after their defeat to Argentina. Only Djed Spence ($4.5m), Marc Guéhi ($5.1m), Declan Rice ($7.0m) and Morgan Rogers ($7.2m) kept their places in the starting XI. That was particularly notable because Rice, along with Ezri Konsa ($4.6m), Bukayo Saka ($9.5m) and Jarrell Quansah ($4.4m), had all carried recent fitness concerns. The biggest surprises came in attack, with Harry Kane ($10.5m) left on the bench for the entire match and Jude Bellingham ($8.3m) limited to a brief cameo.
• France also shuffled their pack. Only Mike Maignan ($5.0m), Adrien Rabiot ($6.4m), Michael Olise ($9.5m) and Kylian Mbappé ($10.5m) kept their places following the semi-final defeat to Spain.
• The overall numbers were remarkably even. England and France both recorded 2.8 xG (expected goals), while England created six big chances to France’s seven. Both sides also finished with exactly 19 shots. However, as the BBC ‘Match Momentum’ graph (and the 0-4 half-time score!) shows, each half was very different:

• Rice made an immediate impact. He rifled England ahead from outside the box inside the opening minutes, then almost grabbed an assist from the resulting corner. His header fell kindly for Konsa, who turned the ball home to double England’s advantage.
• However, Saka stole the show. He thought he had opened his account early on, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. He soon responded by linking up brilliantly with Marcus Rashford ($7.5m), who squared the ball for him to fire beyond Maignan and make it 3-0. Eberechi Eze ($8.0m) then produced a superb turn and pass to set up Saka’s second before half-time. The winger completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after a driving run from Spence won the spot-kick, capping a sensational 21-point haul.
• Some Fantasy managers questioned why Saka missed out on the starting XI in the semi-final. Thomas Tuchel addressed that after the match, insisting the decision was purely tactical. He also reaffirmed that Saka remains a key player for England, despite his omission against Argentina.

“It was a tough decision for me to leave him out of the semi-final. I had the feeling after the Norway match that Morgan Rogers had something special to give to us with his physicality.” – Thomas Tuchel on Bukayo Saka

• Rashford had to settle for just seven points after making way at half-time. Thomas Tuchel offered no explanation for the substitution after the match, with Kobbie Mainoo ($6.4m) the only player to receive an injury update.

“Kobbie was injured last training session yesterday morning and had a sharp pain in the back… and was not ready to play.” – Thomas Tuchel

• Despite playing little more than 10 minutes, Bellingham still made his mark. The midfielder burst forward from deep, glided through the France defence and finished brilliantly to score what could prove one of the goals of the tournament.
• It was a fantastic attacking display from England, albeit in a pretty meaningless match and against a defence that was hugely disorganised. Fantasy managers will hope to see more of the same from both the players involved and the Three Lions as a whole.
• From a France perspective, Didier Deschamps’ side were dreadful in the first half. Going into the break 4-0 down was abysmal, even in a match they may have felt less motivated to win.
• Outside of an unconvincing effort from Rayan Cherki ($8.0m), a long-range strike from Mbappé and another blocked attempt from inside the box, France offered very little threat during the opening 45 minutes.
• Les Bleus eventually came to life after the break. Olise slipped the ball into Mbappé’s path, allowing the forward to finish from close range and make it 4-1. The Real Madrid star then played another key role. His line-breaking pass released substitute Bradley Barcola ($8.0m), who blasted a right-footed effort beyond the England goalkeeper. A neat one-two with Olise later gave Mbappé the chance to reduce the deficit to one goal. He finished the match with 17 Fantasy points and became the leading goalscorer in World Cup history with 22 goals. Mbappé also looks well placed to win the Golden Boot. Lionel Messi would need to score at least twice in the final to move ahead of him.
• Mbappé played a crucial role in France’s goals, but Olise also made a major contribution. However, the Bayern Munich winger could have produced an even bigger return had he converted his own chances. Olise should arguably have done better with a left-footed effort from outside the box. He then wasted another excellent opportunity before missing again from close range. Despite those missed chances, he still registered two assists. That also saw him finish the tournament with the most assists ever recorded by a player in a single World Cup campaign.
• Ousmane Dembélé ($10.0m) started the match on the bench but still made an impact. Fellow substitute Dayot Upamecano ($5.3m) set him up to score, helping Dembélé finish the game with 10 Fantasy points.