As the 2026 FIFA World Cup enters its final stretch, England secured a third-place finish Saturday with a dramatic 6-4 victory over France in Miami, while finalists Argentina and Spain made their final preparations for Sunday’s championship match at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, with wildfire smoke from Canada casting a temporary shadow over the host region.
The bronze medal match delivered all the entertainment fans expected, ending with a stunning individual milestone for France’s Kylian Mbappe. The 27-year-old striker netted two goals in the second half to surpass Lionel Messi’s career World Cup goal total, finishing the contest with 22 career tournament goals to claim the all-time top scorer record – a mark Messi can retake as early as Sunday.
France, playing with a heavily rotated lineup after their semi-final defeat to Spain, suffered a catastrophic first-half collapse that head coach Didier Deschamps, in his final match leading Les Bleus, openly criticized. England’s Declan Rice opened the scoring with a blistering long-range strike, before defender Ezri Konsa doubled the lead with a header. Bukayo Saka scored twice before halftime to put England up 4-0, leaving France with a massive mountain to climb.
Deschamps threw on his first-choice starters at the break, and the change sparked an immediate second-half comeback. Within three minutes of the restart, Mbappe notched his ninth goal of the 2026 tournament, and winger Bradley Barcola added a second to cut the deficit. Mbappe’s landmark goal soon followed, pushing him past Messi’s previous record of 21 career World Cup goals. Saka completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot to extend England’s lead again, but Ousmane Dembele’s stoppage-time strike gave France a faint chance of an unlikely draw. That hope was dashed by Jude Bellingham, who capped off a standout tournament by dribbling past France’s reshuffled defense to score England’s sixth goal – making him the first English player ever to net seven goals in a single World Cup.
After the match, Mbappe put his milestone in perspective, saying, “I would have preferred not to be the all-time top scorer and to be playing tomorrow’s match.”
Across the northeastern United States, the build-up to Sunday’s final was overshadowed by hazardous air quality caused by thick, acrid smoke drifting south from ongoing wildfires in Canada. On Saturday, New York City briefly ranked as the most polluted major city in the world, with the iconic Manhattan skyline completely obscured from view across the Hudson River at MetLife Stadium. Residents across New York, Washington D.C. and the Midwest were urged to stay indoors to avoid health risks from the poor air quality. A torrential Saturday storm brought limited relief, however, and forecasters predict clear, sunny conditions for match day on Sunday.
The final will draw an 80,000-person crowd, including a high-profile roster of global leaders. Former U.S. President Donald Trump will attend, marking his first match appearance of the tournament, and he will be joined by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney – meaning the leaders of all three 2026 co-host nations will be in attendance. On Friday, Trump hosted FIFA President Gianni Infantino at a New York reception, where he praised the 2026 World Cup as “the most successful sporting event, maybe in the history of the world.” Infantino echoed the praise, using extreme language to frame the tournament as a historic global occasion. “This has not just been and is not just the greatest World Cup of all times,” he said. “It is the greatest human, social, and cultural event that mankind has ever witnessed.”
Sunday’s final will be one of the most historic in the tournament’s history. Argentina, the defending 2022 champions, are seeking to become the first men’s national team to win back-to-back World Cup titles since Brazil in 1962. For Spain, the match marks a chance to claim a second World Cup crown, 16 years after their maiden victory in 2010.
The match is also widely expected to be the final World Cup appearance for 39-year-old Lionel Messi, the Argentine icon widely regarded as the greatest men’s footballer of all time, who led his nation to glory in Qatar four years ago. Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni urged fans to savor what could be Messi’s final tournament bow. “He has made history. He is a legend,” Scaloni said of the former Barcelona star. Argentina have cemented their reputation as a resilient side throughout the 2026 tournament, pulling off a dramatic late semi-final comeback against England to reach the final. By contrast, Spain have delivered a near-perfect run to the championship, conceding only one goal across seven matches and outclassing France in their semi-final win.