France v England: Why the World Cup third-place play-off is important for Three Lions coach Thomas Tuchel | soccer news

England are playing three matches against the top three teams in world football. That’s unprecedented.

Far from being a bust, Saturday’s third-place match against France will have a huge impact on how this World Cup will be remembered, and will almost certainly have an impact on Thomas Tuchel’s future.

To be clear, the Football Association (FA) is still behind the England manager and Tuchel said after his side’s semi-final capitulation to Argentina that he was “100 per cent” committed to the role until the 2028 European Championships.

But I have never seen so much criticism leveled at an England manager when the team had a World Cup success on paper.

Remember that Tuchel’s team made it all the way to the semi-finals of major tournaments, losing only to Lionel Messi, the best team of all time. This is a team that has won their last 15 knockout matches and won the last three major international tournaments (two Copa Americas and a World Cup).

Despite this, Tuchel was vilified. He’s been heavily criticized in every quarter, including by me, for switching to a back five and then bringing in a sixth defender in Nico O’Reilly to protect a 1-0 lead in Atlanta.

All of this meant England were out-balled and never got a moment’s respite from Messi’s onslaught.

To make matters worse, Tuchel said he had “no regrets” about the decisions he made and that he thought the problem of the night was a systematic inability of England’s players to maintain possession rather than a failure of tactics. He repeated those thoughts in a press conference ahead of the France game.

It was extremely optimistic, as you’d expect from an elite coach who’s never been cornered and never has any self-doubt.

But it has become clear to me that it is not just the support of some sections of the media and the UK that has temporarily sidelined Tuchel. Many players in Tuchel’s squad – some of them senior – believe the manager is at fault.

There is certainly frustration with one’s own performance. The players themselves know that they failed to keep the ball effectively and dropped too deep for 17 minutes after they scored and before Tuchel made his first substitution.

But I am baffled by the tactical decisions that ruined what one source told me was England’s “best chance ever” of reaching the World Cup final.

England could achieve their best World Cup performance since 1966

So what now? A third-place playoff in Miami on Saturday when no one cares? In reality, that’s not the case.

France is the number one soccer team in the world. They were the favorite to win the tournament here in the United States and were the most dominant team until they unfortunately lost to Spain.

They currently have some of the best players on the planet, including Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele. If England don’t play at their best in this match, not only will they lose, they could be embarrassed. Where will Tuchel be if that happens?

On the bright side, this is a huge opportunity for Tuchel and England to make a lasting statement, one huge final scalp that could help reduce the negative vibes floating around following Atlanta’s semi-final capitulation.

Beating France would mean England’s best performance at the World Cup since 1966 and would likely see them jump to third in the FIFA rankings. But more than anything, it will be a huge statement and another show of this team’s incredible resilience and character after the huge disappointment of missing the tournament.

We have already seen that in this World Cup. A spectacular, gut-wrenching and courageous victory at a cacophonous Azteca Stadium where England were down to 10 men and fighting for their tournament lives. Many argue that this is Britain’s greatest achievement on foreign soil.

We saw this in the hot box in Miami in the quarterfinals. There, despite a less than fluent performance and temperatures that felt like 44C, the team won again after 120 minutes.

‘The match against France is important for Tuchel’s future’

Can they come together once again and launch an all-out war against France? The question is, can Tuchel motivate them to do exactly that after publicly criticizing their football pedigree and “DNA”?

If not, there will certainly be fresh questions in the halls of power at Wembley. Tuchel was hired as a serial winner, a knockout specialist and finally the man with the power to put a second star on his shirt.

Even with back-to-back losses against two teams ranked No. 1 and No. 3 in the world, no one will be confident he can do it in the biggest game of all.

And in September we come to Spain at Wembley. This is the third game in this sweet but twisty trio. Depending on Saturday night’s game against France in Miami, the 2024 Euro final replay could be make-or-break for Tuchel.

That is why this match against France is far from a meaningless finale. This is absolutely crucial for Tuchel’s future and the direction of the England team’s travel.

Twice previously, in 1990 and 2018, England lost the bronze medal match. They will be desperate to avoid a troubling hat-trick.