Ibrahima Konaté has made the mood around the World Cup bronze final plain enough. France vs England is set for Saturday, July 18, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and Konaté said of the third-place play-off: "Not one of us want to play this game for third place, but we don't have the choice." Thomas Tuchel said the same from the England side.
Konate and Tuchel on the fixture
Konaté did not dress it up. Speaking to givemesport.com, the France defender said both camps would rather not be there, but still have to turn up.
Tuchel was just as direct. He told givemesport.com: "None of our players and none of the French players want to play this match. We demand the most of ourselves. That's just the nature of being competitive. They want to play the final. We gave everything to achieve that. Everyone plays to win the World Cup, but that's how it is."
That is the most honest angle on this game. The bronze final is on the calendar, but nobody inside it is pretending it carries the pull of the main event.
France, England and the old World Cup play-off
The fixture is not new. The third-place play-off was first introduced in 1934 and became a regular part of the World Cup from 1954.
England have been here twice since 1966, losing 2-1 to Italy in 1990 and 2-0 to Belgium in 2018. France now arrive with Didier Deschamps saying this will be his last match in charge, which gives their end of the week at least one real emotional layer.
Deschamps told BBC Sport: "The best for France and England would be for this match not to exist."
There is still a football reason to watch. Kylian Mbappe is tied with Lionel Messi on eight World Cup goals and trails him 4 assists to 3 in the Golden Boot race, while Harry Kane has six goals for England. But the wider mood is still the same, the teams do not want the bronze final, even if they will play it properly in Miami.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →
