OFFSIDE | World Cup Third Place Showdown: Why England Vs. France is a 900-year-old derby
Hello and welcome to Day 38 of this sprawling World Cup.There is a hilarious scene Yes, Minister when the Right is deluded, sorry, the Reverend Jim Hacker asks if nuclear weapons are absolutely necessary. Surely, if push came to shove, the United States would protect Britain from Russia?A stunned Sir Humphrey Appleby declares that Hacker should resign if he holds such unilateralist views, before pointing out that Britain’s nuclear weapons are not meant to protect against Russia.They are to protect her from France.When the LSE-educated hacker points out that the French are their allies, a beleaguered Sir Humphrey explains: “They are now, but they’ve been our enemies for most of the last 900 years. If they’ve got the bomb, we must have the bomb!”Whatever Sir Humphrey’s faults, an educated man at Oxford certainly knew his history. The modern Anglo-French conflict began when William the Conqueror crossed the Channel in 1066, defeated Harold Godwinson at Hastings and installed a French-speaking Norman ruling class.Since then, a large amount of water has flowed under the famous bridge, or English Channel. England and France now face each other in the last place they would like to be: the World Cup for third place.
France vs England | Sunday, July 19, 2:30 IST | Miami Stadium
The third place match is the football equivalent of being asked to pose for photographs after being left at the altar. England thought he was going home. France thought the dictator was untouchable and beyond reproach. The two main heirs to Cruyff’s legacy were both given hard football lessons.Now, with the world freaking out over a 19-year-old photo of Messi and Yamal, France and England must play for the consolation prize, which Ibrahima Konaté called a “chocolate medal”.
France’s Ibrahima Konate listens during a news conference before the World Cup third-place match against England in Miami Gardens, Florida, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
The world and his uncle, including Trump, the avuncular leader of the free world no one asked for, have already weighed in on Tuchel’s rotations and tactics. Still, this match features more than one damaged ego. Tuchel will want to show that England can mix it up with the biggest teams. France would like to say Goodbye Didier Deschamps after a 14-year reign that brought the 2018 World Cup, another World Cup final in 2022, the 2021 Nations League and the 2016 European Championship final.Again, this is a World Cup match. Mbappé, Kane and Bellingham can add to their totals and fight for the Golden Boot. Mbappé can also become the top scorer in the history of the World Cup. Two goals would take him past Messi’s current record of 21, at least for the final. No one wanted to come to the after party. Now that they’re here, might as well dance.Warrior watchKylian Mbappé: The last act for the DictatorThe dictator enters the match level with Messi on eight goals. He also has 20 World Cup goals, one short of Messi’s record of 21.Whether Deschamps will start him remains uncertain, although the France manager has confirmed his captain is available. Mbappé has a motivation that no one else has: he can use the least glamorous tournament of the tournament to win one of his most prestigious individual awards.Jude Bellingham: England’s emotional reset buttonBellingham was on a roll after the semi-final and appeared to strike Argentine substitute Valentín Barco.He can use this fixture to make a more constructive point and perhaps earn dressing room bragging rights over his Real Madrid teammate Mbappé. Bellingham and Kane have six goals to their name, which means they both remain within striking distance of the Golden Boot.Battle planSpain showed the world how to beat this French team by trapping their gifted strikers in Chakravyuh isolation and cutting them off from the rest of the side. England should avoid sitting deep as that would give Mbappé, Olise and Doué license to get excited. A better plan would be to press France’s revamped defence, use Rogers between the lines and attack the space behind Theo Hernández. Saka can pin the French left-back, while Bellingham’s late runs could exploit the gaps created by the French midfield’s movement towards the ball.England must also avoid turning the game into a pure sprint contest. If possession changes hands repeatedly, France have a quicker and deeper group of transition forwards.
President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino speak at a reception at Trump Tower in New York, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
France will immediately target the unknown positions of England’s full backs. If Quansah plays on the right and O’Reilly on the left, Mbappé and Doué will try to isolate them and force England’s central midfielders into protection. That could leave Cherki or Olise a gap between the lines. Deschamps can also free his forwards from some of the caution that defined Spain’s defeat. Bronze finals tend to be more open because the fear of elimination has disappeared. That suits a French team built on one-on-one dominance.The decisive area: the right of England against the left of FranceSaka against Theo Hernández could shape the match. If Saka pushes Hernández back, France will lose one of their most important attacking positions. If Hernández can overlap and create two-on-one situations alongside Mbappé or Doué, England’s right-back could spend the evening retreating to their own goal.Executive watchIt will be Deschamps’ 187th and final match as France manager. He took charge in 2012 and led them to the Euro 2016 final, the 2018 World Cup title, the 2021 Nations League crown and another World Cup final in 2022.
France head coach Didier Deschamps speaks during a press conference ahead of the World Cup third-place match against England, Friday, July 17, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Florida (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
His football was never universally loved, but France cruised through most tournaments with a confidence that few international teams could match. Sometime later, Deschamps may reflect on whether he should have stuck to his conservative guns instead of seeking universal affection. Victory would give him his 122nd win as France manager.Tuchel would argue that reaching the semi-finals is progress, but the manner in which England were knocked out has revived an old charge: England deliver when the going gets tough.He will want to show that this tournament marks the beginning of the Tuchel era rather than another famous English near-miss. Victory would also secure England’s best World Cup finish since 1966.Walk down memory laneFrance and England have met three times at the World Cup:
- England won 2-0 in the group stage on their way to the 1966 title.
- England won 3–1 in the 1982 group stage, Bryan Robson scoring after just 27 seconds.
- France won 2-1 in the quarter-finals in 2022 after Kane converted one penalty but sent the other over the bar.
Off the pitchAs England and France prepare to meet in Miami, the earliest news of a match in their rivalry has crossed the English Channel. The Bayeux Tapestry, a 70-metre account of William the Conqueror’s invasion, or what younger generations might call a very long scroll, has returned to England for the first time in nearly a thousand years.
FILE – This photo taken on September 18, 2019 shows the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman conquest of England in Bayeux, Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, file)
England and France are siblings who have spent centuries fighting over inheritance while borrowing each other’s clothes. The Norman Conquest created a ruling class across the Channel, with French becoming the language of the English court and its supposedly civilized classes if such a thing ever existed. English became an understandable borrowing from French, including parliament, government, justice, authority, and military.Under Henry II. the English crown controlled more of France than the French king. The monarch was a sovereign in England and a feudal subject in France, an arrangement designed to turn family law into litigation by the sword. Edward III’s claim to the French throne sparked the Hundred Years’ War, while France’s Auld alliance with Scotland ensured that England could be threatened from either direction, sometimes by someone later generations would imagine as Mel Gibson.After 1707, the rivalry became Britain versus France and traveled around the world. Their armies, navies and trading companies fought from Canada to the Caribbean and India. Britain withdrew from the Seven Years’ War with the Empire. France retaliated by helping Britain’s American colonies gain independence, spending so much that its monarchy eventually lost its head.Revolutionary France then offered Britain a nightmare: murder and political contagion. Napoleon supplied the military version and marched across Europe while Britain relied on ships, money and allies. Nelson crushed French naval ambitions at the Nile and Trafalgar; Waterloo ended the Napoleonic adventure.The rise of Germany turned old enemies into allies. They fought in two world wars, although friendship never ruled out suspicion. Charles de Gaulle commanded Free France from London, but Britain also attacked the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir to prevent it from falling into German hands.After 1945, Britain looked to Washington while France sought freedom of speech No without asking America. De Gaulle twice blocked Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community. Britain joined in 1973 and left in 2020, reopening the age-old question of whether it belongs to Europe or just lives alongside it.They are separated by 34 kilometers of water. The channel was wide enough to thwart capture, but never wide enough to allow escape.Dinner conversationIs third place at the World Cup an achievement? More importantly, is it worth staying up for?