As the final whistle blew on England 6 France 4, I knew one thing for sure.
That the media reaction was going to be even more absurd than the final scoreline.
I wasn’t wrong.
As England collected their bronze medals, the media outrage flowed.
The basic message, if only Thomas Tuchel had only approached the Argentina match as he did against France, then we would all now be looking forward to England v Spain in the 2026 World Cup final on Sunday night.
Comparing this third place no pressure laidback meaningless friendly kickabout against France with the incredible high intensity of the semi-final against Argentina…it is laughable.
Both England and France made seven changes each from their losing semi-finals and I think the massive difference between the two teams is that the English mentality doesn’t really do friendlies.
So whilst so many of the French players were quite literally strolling around, England were far more treating it like a competitive match. The lack of effort, lack of discipline, failure to bother to chase back from the opposition players, was embarrassing at times.
England’s effort and determination saw them 4-0 up at half-time. Well taken goals by Rice (4 minutes), Konsa (18) and Saka (37, 45+1). France had also had excellent chances of their own but none taken. A ridiculously open mach, almost played like a friendly…
Deschamps made four changes at half-time and 21 minutes into the second half it was reduced to 4-3 to England, as Mbappe (48, 66) and Barcola (54) got the goals. It could actually in those 21 second half minutes have been turned around 6-4 in France’s favour, as they also missed some very easy chances, somehow missing the target.
The game somehow stayed at 4-3 until the 87th minute then we had goals from Saka (87th minute penalty), Dembele (90+6) and Bellingham (90+8) to bring that final England 6 France 4 scoreline.
It shows how little defeat really meant when even the usually miserable looking Kylian Mbappe was laughing after defeat in this ten goal friendly.
To suggest that this kickabout proves the Argentina would have been so different if the likes of Saka had played, is just ridiculous. Attacking players absolutely love and thrive in these kind of laidback matches where you are given all the time in the world to do whatever you want.
The French defending was absolutely abysmal and yet on chances France could quite easily have won something like 12-8 and nobody could have argued.
It was an entertaining watch but that is all.
France left out their entire first choice defence, as well as Tchouameni missing in midfield, plus Dembele and Barcola making way as well.
These statistics sum up the England 6 France 4 friendly:
An incredible 89 touches of the ball in the opposition penalty area, 55 for France and 34 for England.
A total of 38 shots, 19 for each team.
Not a single card given to any of the 30 players who got on the pitch.
I am pleased that England defeated France but know for a fact that if this had been the World Cup final instead of a third place friendly, that it would have been a very different match, unrecognisable from what we witnessed on Saturday.