5 Things we learned from England’s thrilling win over France in the 3rd place match
Well, that was fun. I know this game isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but the fact that we’ve probably just seen the game of the tournament I think goes to show that there is a place for it at the World Cup, England got off to a flyer after Doue’s misplaced pass was intercepted by Declan Rice who drove forward to the edge of the box and curled a beauty past Maignan to give England the lead in just the 2nd minute. The game was end-to-end with both teams having chances before the 18th minute when Ezri Konsa flicked on Declan Rice’s corner to double England’s lead, as France tried to get one back they left the back-door wide open as Rashford ran clean through with half the pitch to himself but his shot was straight at Maignan with the rebound falling to Saka who’s shot was blocked on the line falling back to Rashford who had the composure to find Saka who squeezed the ball past the two players on the line to give England a stunning 3-0 lead in the 37th minute. As if things couldn’t get any better in the first half England added another one in added time as Eze wrongfooted Zaire-Emery in midfield with a brilliant turn before finding Saka who took his shot early into the bottom corner to put England 4-0 up as the first half came to an end, surely that’s game over?
Time to actually start playing for France. The French players obviously didn’t care about this game in the first half but with it being Deschamp’s last game he didn’t want to be embarrassed with a complete hammering, it didn’t take long for Les Bleus to get one back as Olise played a beautiful through ball to Mbappe in the box who’s left-footed finish gave Henderson no chance in the net. France got another just five minutes later as Mbappe played a lovely ball through to Barcola to run onto with the PSG winger running into the box and firing past Henderson from close-range, halfway back already in the 54th minute. Ten minutes later France got within one as Mbappe and Olise linked up again with some brilliant play before Mbappe yet again on his left-foot fired past Henderson to make it 4-3 in a crazy game so far, from there it looked like only a matter of time before France equalised but the likes of Olise and Dembele missed some sitters as England gained some more control with Bellingham and Anderson in midfield for the last 15 minutes. As the game was winding to a close Djed Spence was taken out recklessly in the box by Malo Gusto to give England a chance to end the game along with giving Saka a chance at a World Cup hat-trick, the Arsenal man stepped up and coolly slotted past Maignan to surely finish the game in the 87th minute. With 7 minutes added on France had hope and did get one back again as Ousmane Dembele finally got his goal after a couple of feints had Chalobah on the floor before curling a lovely shot past Henderson in the 95th minute, surely they can’t get another? As France pushed for the equaliser Bellingham broke forward on the halfway line running towards the box before a couple of fake shots had the whole French backline in disarray as Bellingham slotted past Maignan at close-range to finally put an end to one of the craziest matches of football I’ve ever seen, England’s best finish at a World Cup since 1966. It’s definitely something to build from.
England finishing on a high with the Bronze medal. I’d definitely prefer going out on a win if I was England but there’s still that thought of ‘what if’ in the Argentina game, Tuchel changed most of the starting 11 today bringing in the likes of Toney, Eze, Quansah, Rashford, Dean Henderson, Konsa etc and it brought energy in that first half where they completely blew France out of the water. Rashford and Saka where unplayable causing carnage on the wings which does make you think why they only played a combined five minutes in the Argentina game with Saka being an unused sub in the game, he played 97 today so he’s clearly fit to play. It’s hard to really take any conclusions from the second half as England looked absolutely knackered after a long tournament and were probably lucky not to at least be level at some point in that second half, Tuchel’s subs actually did work in this game as Bellingham and Anderson gave England some control in that midfield that was getting ran through over and over in the second half with Bellingham finishing his brilliant campaign with a magical solo goal. Overall I’d say that despite obviously being hugely disappointed with the semi-final England can be proud of their performance today and in the tournament as a whole, all eyes now turn to Euro 2028 for Tuchel now. Can he be the one to finally win another major tournament for England? We’ll have to wait and see.
Deschamps last game ends in disappointment. I can only imagine what was being said at half-time in that France dressing room as Deschamps last game was looking like his most embarrassing defeat in charge of the side but the players responded in the second half and really should have got back in the game with Olise in particular missing some brilliant chances, the first half would still worry me massively if I was a French fan with Konate, Lacroix, Gusto and Theo Hernandez looking like they’ve never played football before giving England chance after chance and going into half-time 4-0 down. Deschamps made four changes at half-time with Barcola and Upamecano making the biggest impact with the Bayern Munich centre-back looking like a man possessed out there setting up two of the French goals, Mbappe’s two goals takes him to the top of the Golden Boot race for now as Messi needs 2 goals tomorrow to go back equal with the Frenchman. Olise’s two assists takes him to 7 overall in the tournament which is now the new record for the World Cup beating Pele’s 6 assists in 1970, I imagine he’ll still be thinking about those chances in the second half though. Overall another disappointing game for France where we’ve seen the best and the worst from this team but you’d imagine they’ll be competing for these tournaments for the foreseeable future under Zidane.
All eyes now on the World Cup final tomorrow. I don’t know about everyone else but it feels a bit like Christmas Eve tonight where you might get a present or two before the big day tomorrow, the match today was absolutely brilliant but you I can’t help but think about the game tomorrow. A game between the current Copa America and World Cup holders against the European champions along with Messi vs Yamal is just guaranteed to create history for someone, I think today’s game shows just how strong that Spanish defence is not even giving France a goal when they can just flick a switch against most teams and score at will. There’s no point doubting Argentina because at this point they’ll just prove you wrong like they’ve been doing all tournament to everyone so I fret to even give a prediction on the game, I do slightly fancy Spain as I just have a feeling Yamal is going to steal the show but there’s a player on the other side who lets be honest is almost guaranteed to have a say in this game. I just hope the spectacle lives up to the expectation, surely it won’t beat the last World Cup final? We’ll find out tomorrow.