Bukayo Saka scores hat-trick for England vs. France (Image: Getty)
England could have been forgiven for their middling performance in what was ultimately a meaningless match against France. Who cares if they finish third or fourth at the World Cup? No one. However, England were freed from this constraint and actually performed their best performance of the tournament in the third place match. At least 45 minutes anyway. They were free flowing, full of energy, and fun to watch. They led 4-0 at half-time against a team featuring elite players such as Kylian Mbappé and Michael Oliseh.
But in many ways this made things even worse for Thomas Tuchel, who was booed heavily before the game. Because the obvious question is, where was this against Argentina? And why did Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka play a total of seven minutes in the semi-final defeat? The pace and dynamism they provided out wide in the first half here was exactly what Argentina would not want to defend. Despite having world-class defenders on the pitch, France could not coexist with them.
And then halftime happened. England dropped Rashford for Olly Watkins, while France brought on Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Dayot Upamecano and Luca Digne. That led to a complete reversal of positions in the second half. By the 66th minute it was 4-3. Just as the Three Lions crushed their opponents, France also came back in the second half. They could and probably should have scored seven points. Instead, the unconventional match ended 6-4 to England.
To be honest, France were terrible in the first half. They weren’t up to par defensively at all. But England were very bright and sharp at the same time. Thomas Tuchel’s side played with such pace and purpose. He came on as a substitute in the 1-0 win against England in midweek, but Declan Rice was excellent in the armband here, as were hat-trick heroes Saka and Rashford.
Coach Tuchel said this after the defeat against Argentina. “Winning the ball, controlling the game, controlling the ball is probably not in our DNA the way it’s in the DNA of Spaniards or Argentines or Brazilians.” So perhaps he found a piece of Brazilian DNA to inject into his players before the game? Because for 45 minutes in Miami, they looked like Brazil in the 1970s.
Granted, they were playing a French team that seemed to want to go to other parts of the world. But England’s play in the first half was unbelievable. Arsenal’s Saka reflected on the time when he was at his brilliant best, scoring three goals. He didn’t play a single minute against Argentina, which doesn’t bode well for Tuchel. The Germans will probably argue that the winger looked lethargic early in the tournament.
But as great as he has been here, the question arises as to why he wasn’t on the pitch on Wednesday night. Rashford’s performance makes it even more clear that he was brought on too late, six minutes into stoppage time, after Argentina led 2-1 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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Manager Thomas Tuchel was heavily criticized after the defeat against Argentina (Image: Getty)
If England had added that explosiveness to their attack while leading 1-0, would they have actually blown Argentina away? Or was he even able to finish off the world champion on the counter as Argentina increased the pressure?
Speaking at half-time against France, England’s assistant coach Anthony Barry said: “I have no regrets. I’m a bit emotional but I can’t find the words to explain how proud I am of the players. They’re playing with broken hearts. I’ve seen 11 players on the field with broken hearts and I’ve seen them in the hotel over the last two days with broken hearts.”
“And they can put up performances like that just from the pride of playing for England. I don’t know what the cynics will say, I know it’s too late, but we’re still playing a world-class side and I’m so proud of the players for those 45 minutes.”
And it was true. The second half not so much. It wasn’t until Saka’s penalty made it 5-3 that England crumbled, with players like Rice showing signs of fatigue. It wasn’t until the 79th minute that Tuchel made further changes, bringing on Jude Bellingham and Elliott Anderson.
England were extremely lucky not to give away the lead, even though they were completely shattered. But his side got the job done. Unfortunately, while this victory restored some pride, it meant little in the grand scheme of things. England would have rather played in New Jersey on Sunday night.
Tuchel said this week that he had no regrets about his decision against Argentina. His performance in the first half against France proves that perhaps he should have done so. The second half only highlighted the work the head coach still has to do at the back.
It is clear that lessons must be learned from this World Cup. And one of them is that if England want to win major tournaments they need to be as aggressive as they were in the first half against France. If they had behaved like that throughout the game against Argentina, they could have been playing in this weekend’s World Cup final.
