BEATRIZ GATTISÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) - "England doesn't want to play this game, and neither do we," said France coach Didier Deschamps, on the eve of the dispute for third place in the World Cup. This was not what was seen in this Saturday's match (18), in Miami, which saw the English leading 4-0 in the first half and the French looking for an impressive reaction after the break. With six goals in the final stage, the English won 6-4 and confirmed their best campaign in 60 years.
In a game with 10 goals, England confirms 3rd place in the World Cup over France
BEATRIZ GATTISÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) - "England doesn't want to play this game, and neither do we," said France coach Didier Deschamps, on the eve of the dispute for third place in the World Cup. This was not what...
The match also had Mbappé scoring twice to take over this edition's top scorer, with ten goals, and top of the ranking of top scorers in all World Cups, with 22. Lionel Messi, who found the net nine times in North America and 21 in the history of the competition, will try to regain the lead this Sunday (19), in the final against Spain.
Much questioned for leaving names like Cole Palmer and Phil Foden out of the tournament and for his excessively defensive stance after opening the scoring in the semi-final against Argentina, coach Thomas Tuchel bet on an almost entirely reserve team for the match at the Hard Rock stadium in Miami.
The British team's top scorers in the competition, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, with six goals each, started watching the game from the bench, and even goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was rested.
Deschamps also assembled a mixed team, but kept Rabiot, Olise and Mbappé among the starters. Despite the disappointing elimination to Spain in the other semi-final, the French team was looking for a positive result in saying goodbye to the coach who led them for 14 years - including the title in 2018 and runner-up in 2022.
Les Bleus' number 10 also had extra personal motivation for the World Cup's top scorer. Before this Saturday's match, Mbappé and Messi were tied with eight goals each, with the Argentine leading the way by having more assists (four compared to three).
But the two-time world champions started the match at a pace much lower than expected. England's reserves took advantage of the French's lack of control from the start and even in the first half built a large 4-0 lead, which could have even been greater.
The score was opened after two minutes with Declan Rice, who stole the ball in midfield, carried it to the edge of the area and shot straight into Maignan's left corner. Saka went on to extend the game at 11, but the play was canceled for offside.
The second goal came at 17, with Konsa's header after Rice took a corner. The French goalkeeper just watched the ball go in.
Mbappé even tried to take the initiative to seek a reaction, but he managed to do little alone, with many mistakes from his teammates. At best, he stopped in defense of Henderson, Pickford's replacement.
The third and fourth were by Bukayo Saka. At 36, the English took advantage of the inefficiency of the French defense in getting the ball out of the area and insisted until they pushed towards the goal: Rashford received a great pass from Saka, advanced to the attack and shot over Maignan; the rebound fell to the Arsenal winger, who finished over Lacroix; the ball fell to Rashford, who rolled the ball for Saka to score for the third time.
At 45, Eze passed the ball to the Arsenal player and sent it into the right corner of the French goalkeeper, scoring his second of the match.
At half-time, Tuchel replaced Rashford with Watkins and Deschamps made four substitutions at once: he replaced Theo Hernández with Digne, Konaté with Upamecano, Cherki with Dembélé and Doué with Barcola.
The changes took effect quickly. Two minutes into the second half, Upamecano disarmed Watkins, sent it to Olise, who assisted Mbappé to score his ninth goal in this World Cup.
At eight, number 10 threw for Barcola to score the second. And he scored one more, after scoring with Olise, to make it 4-3 and take over the World Cup top scorer in this edition, with ten goals, and as the top scorer of all time, with 21.
Looking to regain the lead in both rankings, Messi is still playing this Sunday (19) in the final against Spain.
After both sides piled up missed chances, Spence was fouled inside the area and Saka took the penalty to score the hat-trick in the game and confirm the score of 5-3. The only defeat suffered by France in World Cups was in the 1958 semi-final, a 5-2 against Brazil.
Much less exciting, the last meeting between the two teams was in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, won 2-1 by the French. French path to the dispute for 3rd place
In the group stage, the French beat Senegal, Iraq and Norway. They eliminated Sweden in the newly created 32-team phase, Paraguay in the round of 16 and Morocco in the quarterfinals.
In the semi-final, the then favorites for the title were annulled by Spain's marking, which was very focused on seeking its second world championship and conceded just one goal until the final.
England's campaign to 3rd place
Thomas Tuchel's team debuted with a victory over Croatia, drew with Ghana and beat Panama in the first phase. In the knockout stage, they overcame the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 32nd stage, held on to victory against Mexico in the round of 16 even with one less player and eliminated Erling Haaland's Norway also in the quarterfinals.
Argentina ended the English dream of returning to the final after 60 years. They opened the scoring with Gordon at the start of the second half, but saw Lionel Messi provide two assists to turn the match around in stoppage time.
Read Also: Argentina fans cause 'madness' in Times Square late into the night
Source: Noticias ao Minuto - Ultima Hora
This story was originally published by Noticias ao Minuto - Ultima Hora. Visit the original publication for further details.
Open original publication
