England win vs France has just piled even more pressure on Thomas Tuchel after boos
England beat France 6-4 in a thrilling match to finish third at the 2026 World Cup – but the win isn’t all great for Three Lions manager Thomas Tuchel.
Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick for England against France (Image: Getty)
England could have been forgiven for a half-hearted performance against France in what, ultimately, was a meaningless match. Who cares whether you finish third or fourth at a World Cup? Nobody. But, with the shackles off, England actually produced their best performance of the tournament in the third-placed play-off. At least for 45 minutes anyway. They were fun to watch, free-flowing and bursting with energy. They led 4-0 at half-time against a team featuring elite players like Kylian Mbappe and Michael Olise.
But in many ways, this made it even worse for Thomas Tuchel, who was heavily booed pre-match. Because the obvious question is: where was this against Argentina? And why did Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka play a combined total of seven minutes in that semi-final defeat? The pace and dynamism they supplied out wide in the first half here was exactly what Argentina would have hated to defend against. France couldn’t live with them despite having some world-class defenders on the pitch.
Then half-time happened. England took off Rashford for Ollie Watkins while France brought on Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Dayot Upamecano and Lucas Digne. That led to a complete role reversal in the second half. By the 66th minute, it was 4-3. Just as the Three Lions blew apart their opponents, the French returned the favour in the second half. They could, and probably should, have scored seven. Instead, an extraordinary contest ended 6-4 to England.
In the first half, France were dire, let’s be frank. They were absolutely miles off it defensively. But England were just so bright and sharp at the same time. Thomas Tuchel’s team played with such pace and purpose. Declan Rice, brought off with England 1-0 up in midweek but wearing the armband here, was superb, as were hat-trick hero Saka and Rashford too.
Tuchel came out after the defeat to Argentina to say: “It’s maybe not in our DNA like it is in the Spanish DNA or Argentinian or Brazilian DNA to take the ball, control the game and the ball.” So perhaps he found some of that Brazilian DNA spare to inject into his players pre-match? Because they looked like 1970s Brazil for 45 minutes in Miami.
Granted, they were playing a France team that looked like they wanted to be anywhere else in the world. But the England first-half display beggared belief. Arsenal’s Saka looked back to his brilliant best as he thrashed in three goals. He didn’t play a single minute against Argentina, which isn’t a good look for Tuchel. The German would probably argue that the winger looked lethargic earlier in this tournament.
But here he was fantastic, and it begs the question: why didn’t he get on the pitch on Wednesday night? Rashford’s performance, too, makes it even clearer that bringing him on in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time – after Argentina had taken a 2-1 lead at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium – was far too late.
Had England have added that explosiveness to their attack while 1-0 up, might they actually have just blown Argentina away? Or could they even have killed the world champions on the counter as Argentina piled on the pressure?
England’s assistant coach Anthony Barry explained at half-time against France: “No frustration. I’m a little bit emotional, I can’t find the words to describe just how proud I am of these players. They’re playing a game with broken hearts. I see 11 lads out on the field with broken hearts, I’ve seen them in the hotel the last two days with broken hearts.