Jude Bellingham became England’s all-time scorer in this tournament when he netted his seventh goal and the sixth for the Three Lions to land them a podium finish at the World Cup.
Mbappe is back on track to defend his Golden Boot title that he and Messi have traded between themselves all tournament.France’s Kylian Mbappe scored his 22nd goal at the World Cup to break the all-time scoring record and cement his legacy as the best striker in the world as he played his final match of the tournament against England.England will walk away from the World Cup with a third-place finish after beating France 6-4 in a thrilling bronze-medal match in Miami on Saturday.The 2018 champions had their worst start to the World Cup with a 4-0 scoreline at halftime as they meekly battled a much-changed English side.Mbappe, France’s 27-year-old captain, led the charge and netted in the 48th minute to revive his side and stand level with Lionel Messi for most goals at a World Cup (21) and most at the tournament so far (9).An inspired France then saw Bradley Barcola strike six minutes later before Mbappe returned to the attack and netted in the 66th minute to become the all-time goal-scorer in the world with 22 and the highest at the tournament with 10.Mbappe is back on track to defend his Golden Boot title, which he and Messi have traded between themselves throughout the tournament.The 39-year-old Argentinian, likely playing his last World Cup, will have one last chance to snatch the award from Mbappe when his side take on Spain in the final on Sunday.Elsewhere in the game, Ousmane Dembele scored his sixth World Cup goal and France’s fourth and final against England, who saw a standout performance from Bukayo Saka in his hat-trick.Jude Bellingham became England’s all-time scorer in this tournament when he netted his seventh goal and the sixth for the Three Lions to land them a podium finish at the World Cup.
Kylian Mbappe scores twice for France to hit World Cup record but England win 6-4 in third-place playoff final.England beat France 6-4 in a chaotic World Cup third-place playoff as Kylian Mbappe became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history.Both teams had higher aspirations at the 2026 tournament but suffered painful semi-final exits – France were outplayed by Spain while England suffered a late collapse against Argentina.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Little Argentina to Little Bangladesh: La Albiceleste’s NYC fans share hopelist 2 of 3How can Argentina beat favourites Spain to win back-to-back World Cups?list 3 of 3Does Spain or Argentina’s form guide point to World Cup final glory?end of listBoth coaches made multiple changes for Saturday’s match in the oppressive heat of Miami, with a host of stars on the bench at the start.England boss Thomas Tuchel left out Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham from his starting line-up while Deschamps, stepping down after 14 years at the helm, omitted Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele.Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice put England ahead with a goal from distance in the third minute and Ezri Konsa headed home to make it 2-0.Kylian Mbappe and Michael Olise were a threat as France searched for a way back into the game but they found England’s second-choice goalkeeper Dean Henderson in top form.The game threatened to become embarrassing for France when Bukayo Saka made it 3-0 after a swift break.And it was 4-0 in first-half stoppage time when Saka scored his second goal of the game, celebrated with a fist pump by Tuchel.France coach Didier Deschamps told French TV channel M6 that the first-half display had been “catastrophic”, urging his men to show pride.He made four changes, bringing on Dembele, Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Digne and Barcola and was rewarded almost instantly when Mbappe scored his ninth goal of the tournament to move clear of Lionel Messi at the top of the Golden Boot standings.The game had now totally changed complexion and Barcola pulled another goal back, with Deschamps clenching his fist on the bench.Mbappe then netted his second of the game to become the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer with 22 goals — slotting home from Olise’s pass.That put him two ahead of Messi in the race to finish as top scorer at the 2026 tournament.France squandered a number of chances to equalise and England were handed a chance to extend their lead when Malo Gusto brought down Djed Spence in the penalty area.Saka stepped up to the spot and converted to complete his hat-trick.There was still time for Dembele to grab a fourth for France but Bellingham then strode forward to score the 10th goal of the match with an individual effort.In doing so Bellingham became the first England player to score seven goals at a World Cup.By finishing third, England secured their best result at a World Cup since winning the tournament in 1966, though they will carry bitter memories of their defeat by defending champions Argentina.Deschamps led France to World Cup glory in 2018 and finished as runners-up four years ago.Les Bleus were favourites to win the 2026 tournament after a sensational start but were well-beaten 2-0 by Spain in the semi-finals.Three-time champions Argentina face European champions Spain in the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday.
In order to afford a last-minute ticket to the World Cup final at New York New Jersey Stadium — widely billed as the single most expensive sporting event ever played in the United States — you might have to be a millionaire, as the cost for a coveted seat at the venue crossed the $2m mark less than 24 hours before kickoff.As Lionel Messi’s Argentina face Spain and their teenage superstar Lamine Yamal, ticket prices have soared on the resale market.By Friday, nearly all tickets appeared to be sold, with a few listed on FIFA’s sales platform at about $32,000 apiece.On Saturday, there were no last-minute tickets available on the site. However, FIFA’s resale platform had tickets available from a little less than $10,000 to as high as $2.3m.The final caps a World Cup where fans were willing to shell out more than ever for a seat at the quadrennial showpiece, as ticket buyers confounded even the greatest cynics in the face of sky-high prices.It is a fitting end to a tournament that has tested the limits of what fans will spend, with FIFA’s gamble paying off after concerns over visa restrictions and domestic unrest in the US.“What FIFA did a very good job of was determining what demand would be because people [were] paying these absurd prices for just about all the 104 matches,” said Scott Friedman, a ticketing expert who previously worked for the Cleveland Cavaliers.“A year ago, we didn’t think people would be travelling with Trump’s ICE stuff and all this other conspiracy stuff. But it’s the most popular tournament in the world by far globally, and FIFA, to their credit, they set the prices high, and people ended up paying them.”According to the Reuters news agency, an analysis of FIFA attendance data found that more than half the 72 group matches were attended to capacity, with most others only a few hundred fans short of a full house. About 99.7 percent of available seats were filled during the preliminary stage matches, FIFA said.The data erased early concerns that FIFA’s infamously steep prices would put off fans, after swaths of empty seats were seen around the Guadalajara Stadium for the June 11 match between South Korea and Czechia.Higher prices, higher demandAs the tournament expanded to its largest-ever field, however, with 48 teams involved, so too did interest among fans.Prices were set initially at $575 a ticket for group games — more than double the most expensive group ticket available during the 2022 tournament — but FIFA’s dynamic pricing system meant that many ticket holders paid far more.Hundreds of tickets were still available for the final on Wednesday, priced at little more than $7,000 on FIFA’s platform, a surprising fact that prompted speculation over whether FIFA had finally gone too far with its prices.But the batch of seats available was likely the result of a process known as “slow ticketing”, Friedman explained, a common practice in mega-events in which organisers restrict inventory to motivate buyers.“They can act like they already sold their seats and kind of just dribble them in accordingly to obviously increase market demand,” said Friedman, who runs the Ticket Talk Network, dedicated to exploring how seats for sports mega-events are bought and sold.“Like, ‘Oh, there’s only so-and-so amount of tickets left available in the section, I better buy now,'”A screenshot of the seat map showing available tickets to the World Cup final on the FIFA Marketplace.‘No one really knows how this works’An opaque “dynamic pricing” process has also proven a boon for FIFA, as the sport continues its uneasy evolution from a working-class game to a pastime of the wealthy.FIFA introduced dynamic pricing for the first time at this tournament, allowing ticket prices to fluctuate based on real-time demand and other factors.“One reason for the frustration over the last few months is that no one really knows how this works,” said Adam Elmachtoub, an associate professor of industrial engineering and operations research at Columb
Josh Kerr of Team Great Britain celebrates after winning the 1 Mile Men's Final and setting a new World Record during the Novuna London Athletics Meet, part of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League, at London Stadium on July 18, 2026 in London, England. Harry Murphy/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Harry Murphy/Getty Images British runner Josh Kerr broke the world record for mile time on Saturday in London, at 3 minutes and 42.66 seconds. Kerr beat the record last set by Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj in Rome in 1999, at 3 minutes and 43.13 seconds, by nearly half a second. Kerr publicly announced his bid to break the mile world record in late March, in a track season without either Olympic games or world championships. "It's very overwhelming with the amount of hype," he told BBC Sport after breaking the record. "It's silly to call your shot that early, obviously a lot of things can go wrong. But I'm surrounded by amazing people, and I was able to just stay consistent, put the work in." The 28-year-old from Edinburgh holds an Olympic silver medal in the men's 1500m from the 2024 Paris Games, and is the 2023 world champion in the same distance. Kerr and his sponsor Brooks Running called the mile world record attempt "Project 222," referring to the number of seconds he needed to be at or under to break the world record. Unlike Kerr's other races, Project 222 was laser-focused on the time goal.,said Kerr's coach Danny Mackey, in an Instagram video before the race. The team watched out for whether anyone else had broken the world record before the July meet. "That can change the math a little bit -- but we generally know what he needs to run on July 18th," Mackey said. Kerr trained in the high altitude of Albuquerque, N.M., and documented his training in a series of YouTube videos. Brooks Running made him custom spikes and a speed suit. Their plans seem to have pulled off smoothly on Saturday. Two training partners kept him on pace to beat the record, and Kerr also beat the second-place finisher, American runner Yared Nuguse, by about 3 seconds. The UK's Jake Heyward finished third. He's now part of a rich lineage of British runners to break the mile world record, and the fact that he was able to smash the record time in the UK, at the Wanda Diamond League meet, carried special significance for Kerr. "We dug into the history of [the mile] with six previous British holders of [the record] ... I would be the seventh, and to do it on British soil," he said in an interview with FloTrack when he announced the bid. One of the British record holders, Roger Bannister, was the first athlete to run the mile in under four minutes, in 1954. Two other British record holders, Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, traded the record three times over the course of 10 days in 1981. Kerr is an alumnus of the University of New Mexico, where he competed in the NCAA. He held the collegiate record in the men's 1500m from 2018 until 2021, when it was broken by Nuguse, Saturday's second-place finisher.
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