France meet England in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Third-Place Play-Off as both teams look to end their campaigns on a positive note.
France are looking to achieve a third-placed finish for the third time at a World Cup, whilst third place would mark England’s highest World Cup finish since they won the competition in 1966.
Team News
William Saliba is ruled out for France with a back injury which he suffered in their 2-0 semi-final loss against Spain, which means that Maxence Lacroix is set to replace him in the starting line-up.
Manager, Didier Deschamps is set to rotate his squad which could see fringe players like N’Golo Kante handed a starting spot.
England manager, Thomas Tuchel is set to start Jarell Quansah after the right-back completed a two-match ban, with Quansah set to replace Reece James who was substituted during their 2-1 semi-final defeat against Argentina with a setback in his recent hamstring injury.
Tuchel too is set to rotate his squad with Declan Rice amongst those expected to be rested, but Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane are anticipated to start this match.
Jordan Henderson remains sidelined with a wrist injury.
When is Kick-Off?
France meet England at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, USA, on Saturday 18 July at 5pm EDT (10pm BST), live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK.
Stat Attack
- France have won just one of their three previous World Cup meetings against England (W1, L2).
- England are playing as the designated away team against France at a World Cup for the first time.
- France have won two of their three previous appearances in the third-place play-off match (W2, L1), having won in 1958 and 86 respectively but lost to Poland in 1982 by a 3-2 result.
- England have lost both of their two previous appearances in the third-place play-off match (L2), having lost 2-1 to Italy in 1990 then 2-0 to Belgium in 2018.
Prediction
Having simply got their marking tactics completely wrong against Spain who were able to nullify their rectification attempts pretty comfortably, France now need to just reset if want to give Deschamps the perfect farewell and return to their solid front-footed pressing play.
England meanwhile need to view this as a chance to at least salvage some pride after chucking away their lead against Argentina through Tuchel’s indefensible tactical tweaks and substitution choices, as they otherwise should of won that game if he had stuck to the plan and made better subs.
I am therefore not surprised that questions around Tuchel’s future have come to the fore and especially now Pep Guardiola is available, so this is redemption day for him because no matter the result he needs to atone with an improved managerial performance at minimum.
I however just feel that France will be too strong in the end but this is a valuable chance for England to learn more about themselves against top opposition, and at least show their backing of Tuchel on the pitch.
Prediction: France 2-1 England
Result: France 4-6 England
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