England fans were left wondering what might have been as Thomas Tuchel's side put six past France to finish third in the World Cup.
It's England's best finish at a World Cup since lifting the trophy in 1966, but that small tonic was overshadowed by a performance which raised as many questions as it did answers, for all the occassion itself is widely derided as unnecessary.
A hat-trick for Bukayo Saka, sidelined for so much of the tournament but insistent afterwards that he has been fit to play, may do little to ease pressure on Tuchel, with Marcus Rashford and Eberechi Eze also impressing.
France threatened to make it a week of surrendered leads for the Three Lions but in the end, England ran out 6-4 winners to secure third place.
England were remarkably 4-0 up at half-time thanks to an early Declan Rice goal, Ezri Konsa's header and two from Saka, as France appeared uninterested in sending departing manager Didier Deschamps out on a high.
France came out firing after the break and Kylian Mbappe became the all-time leading World Cup scorer with two goals to take his tally to 22, also moving into pole position for the Golden Boot.
Substitute Bradley Barcola clawed France back to within one and Michael Olise spurned two big chances before Djed Spence earned a penalty which Saka converted to become just the fourth men's England player to score a World Cup hat-trick.
Bukayo Saka netted himself a hat-trick as England collected the bronze medal at the World Cup 🥉 pic.twitter.com/S0n7bptVJR
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 18, 2026
There was one final moment of alarm for England as Ousmane Dembele scored deep into added time, but substitute Jude Bellingham struck his seventh goal of the World Cup to set the record for the most goals by an England player at a major tournament.
It was enough to end a disappointing week on a high with a thrilling 6-4 win, but those departing Miami may be left wondering whether this version of England is reserved only for the one game which everyone accepted beforehand really did not matter.
