I'll plant the flag on this one: the third-place playoff, the match players supposedly don't care about, the one pundits beg FIFA to scrap every four years, just delivered the most watchable ninety-plus minutes of the entire 2026 World Cup.
England 6, France 4. Ten goals. In the consolation game. Look at that scoreline again.
You were told this fixture was meaningless. You were told two heartbroken semifinal losers would trudge out, go through the motions, and save their legs for the summer holidays. Instead England and France turned Saturday into a track meet, a shootout, a genuine circus of a football match, and England came out the other side of it standing, outlasting France in a game that never once slowed down.
So let me say the unpopular thing loudly: stop trying to kill the bronze final. Every cycle the same tired argument comes back, that there's no glory in third, that nobody wants to be there, that it's just an exhibition. And every so often the fixture reminds you exactly why it survives. This was that reminder. Take away the fear, take away the idea that a loss ends your tournament or gets someone sacked or defines a generation, and you get football with the handbrake off. You get ten goals.
Now the sober part, because I won't insult your intelligence: the defending was pretty bad. You don't concede at that rate at a World Cup by accident. Two proud footballing nations basically agreed to leave the back door open and see who blinked first. That's the trade-off nobody wants to admit they love: the same loose, ragged, who-cares-about-shape football that makes a purist wince is exactly what made this the most entertaining game of the knockout rounds.
But don't let the chaos fool you into thinking third place means nothing to these players. England go home from North America having finished on the podium at a World Cup. France, on the losing end here, still leave with plenty to be proud of, not least Kylian Mbappé, who claimed the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer, reportedly becoming the first player to win the award twice. A losing bronze final doesn't erase a summer like that.
And yes, I know where the actual trophy went. Spain beat Argentina in the final to be crowned champions, with Lionel Messi held scoreless when it mattered most. That's the story that goes in the record books, and it deserves to. Spain's control-football machine won the tournament the hard, cold, suffocating way.
But here's my closing shot: the champions gave you the result of the World Cup. England and France, in a game the whole sport had already written off, gave you the fun of it. Ten goals in the match nobody wanted. Don't apologize for enjoying that.