Dembélé strikes late as France falls short against England

Ousmane Dembélé dragged France back into the contest in the 90'+6, but Jude Bellingham answered two minutes later to finish England’s 5-4 win and deny France a late escape. The final minutes turned a tense third-place match into a scramble, with both defenses repeatedly exposed as the scoreline kept moving.

The decisive France move began with a strong steal by Dayot Upamecano, who set up the transition that ended with Dembélé striking left-footed. TNT Sports México placed the goal at 90'+6 and had the score at 4-5, a late cut that briefly made the match feel alive again. Telemundo Deportes described one of Dembélé’s strikes as a “disparo imparable,” a label that captured how quickly the chance arrived and how little time England had to react.

That opening, however, also showed why France could never fully control the match. The turnover came in a high-risk phase, the transition opened space immediately, and the finish punished England before the visitors could reset. Bellingham’s response in the 90+8 ended that window almost as soon as it appeared, confirming that neither side had enough defensive structure left to protect the result once the game had stretched.

France’s late push looked less like romantic resilience than the product of a talented side living on the edge of collapse. The match kept exposing gaps in recovery running, positioning and game management, and each new attack found more open grass than it should have in a third-place contest. In that chaos, Dembélé’s goal mattered because it was clinical and because it arrived at the exact moment when the match could still swing.

The goal also carried individual stakes beyond the scoreline. beIN SPORTS noted on July 16, 2026, that the third-place match could unexpectedly change the winner of the World Cup 2026 Golden Boot. FIFA had separately framed the tournament’s outstanding performers in a discussion of possible Ballon d’Or Adidas candidates, which gave Dembélé’s late finish added weight even in defeat.