England beat France 6-4 in thrilling third place match to secure Bronze medal

New Delhi ( Abhishek Singh ) : England secured a bronze medal in the FIFA World Cup 2026 after defeating France 6-4 in a thrilling third-place match at Miami Stadium last night.

Bukayo Saka became just the second England player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup knockout match, after Sir Geoff Hurst in the 1966 final. Saka had goals in the 37th minute and first-half stoppage time, then added his third on a penalty in the 87th for his second career hat trick with England.

It was the highest-scoring World Cup game since Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982, and the 10 goals were the most in a third-place match.

While Kylian Mbappé surpassed Lionel Messi’s career World Cup scoring record and took the lead in the Golden Boot race with a pair of second-half goals. Mbappé reached 22 career goals, one more than Messi.

The star striker finished this World Cup with 10 goals, two ahead of Messi in the race for the Golden Boot, which is awarded to the tournament’s top scorer.

Meanwhile, Argentina and Spain will face each other in the finals at New York- New Jersey stadium tonight. The match will begin at 12:30 am as per Indian Standard Time.