England and France have ended their respective North American Football Festival campaigns after a historic third-place playoff.

This, after England beat France 6-4 to claim third place for the first time.  

It’s their highest-ever finish since winning it in 1966.

Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick, while Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa all had a goal each.  

Bellingham's goal means he has become the highest-scoring England player in a single Football Festival tournament.  

He scored 7 goals throughout the competition, one more than Gary Lineker and Harry Kane.

As for France, Kylian Mbappe had a brace while Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele also found the back of the net.  

Currently, Mbappe is in pole position for the Golden Boot award with 10 goals, ahead of Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

However, Messi can still take the prize if he scores twice in tomorrow's final between Argentina and Spain, because Messi has registered more assists.

France boss Didier Deschamps has taken responsibility for their first-half collapse against England.

Meanwhile, England manager Thomas Tuchel says his team should look back on their third-place finish with pride, even though they missed out on their target of winning the competition.  

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And local pundits say the 2026 Football Festival Final will be a tough match to predict.  

According to football observer Zak Rahim, the two teams have different playing philosophies.  

He adds that they are evenly matched offensively, meaning that the outcome will depend on which team has the better defense.  

Fellow football observer Karami Kamel agrees, and pointed out that Argentina cannot afford to take Spain lightly.  

It's because Spain has a slight defensive edge, having only conceded one goal throughout the competition.

Karami also predicts a narrow win of only one goal...  

"Personally, I'd like to see Argentina win, because it would allow them to make history by winning back-to-back titles. But Spain are certainly not a team that can be underestimated.
I don't expect this final to be a repeat of the 2022 final, which produced plenty of goals and went all the way to extra time and a penalty shootout.
Instead, I think the 2026 final will be decided by a very narrow margin, perhaps 1-0 or 2-1.
And, of course, I'm hoping Argentina can go on to lift the trophy."