France are taking on England in the third-place play-off match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 on Saturday (July 18) in Miami, and in the fixture being played at Hard Rock Stadium, they have conceded four goals in the first half.
Declan Rice, who is leading England as the stand-in captain against France, scored the opener after just 2 minutes and 14 seconds. He then provided an assist for Ezri Konsa’s first-ever FIFA World Cup goal in the 18th minute of the match.
In the 37th minute, Bukayo Saka scored his first and England’s third goal before finding the back of the net again in first-half stoppage time (45+1′).
It is the first time in FIFA World Cup history that France have conceded four goals in the first half of a match.
4 – Matches à au moins quatre
buts encaissés en première période par l’équipe de France sur les 90 dernières années :
11 Novembre 1953 v Suisse (1-4 à la pause, 2-4 score final)
24 Avril 1968 v Yougoslavie (1-4 à la pause, 1-5 score final)
🆕18 Juillet 2026 v Angleterre (0-4 à… pic.twitter.com/u1y2SKPLcl— OptaJean (@OptaJean) July 18, 2026
It is also the first time that France have conceded the opening four goals in a FIFA World Cup match.
In FIFA World Cup history, this is only the second occasion when England have scored at least four goals in the first half of a match. Their best-ever first-half performance came against Panama in the group stage of the 2018 edition. In the fixture played at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on June 24, 2018, England scored five goals in the first half and added one more after the break to secure a 6-1 victory.
This is only the sixth time in FIFA World Cup history that England have scored four or more goals in a match. Their biggest-ever win at the FIFA World Cup remains the 6-1 victory over Panama on June 24, 2018.
France’s worst defeat in FIFA World Cup history remains the 2-5 loss to Brazil in the semifinal of the 1958 edition. The Les Bleus have conceded five goals in a FIFA World Cup match only once, against Brazil in 1958, and they would like to produce a much better performance in the second half to avoid matching that unwanted record and suffering further embarrassment.
