7 hours ago
18
Key events
Goal! France 0-3 England (Saka, 37)
This was chaos. France are all over the place. Rashford play in Saka, who rounds Maignan and when he is asked to turn back finds the referee in the way. Then, after Cherki has a shot saved by Henderson the ball comes all the way back to Rashford, and eventually, after taking a beat, Saka smashes in, off a French boot.
35 min: Fine save from Henderson, with Olise playing in Mbappe, who drills his shot, and the Palace keeper stakes his claim with more good work.
33 min: Have England slackened off? Or are they looking for the counter? Scratch that, Rashford takes Warren Zaire-Emery to school with a drag-back and smashes the ball with severe venom. That requires a save from Maignan. Rashford could actually have passed to Saka, as Thomas Tuchel also seems to think.
31 min: Rice is sat deep, taking the ball off the defenders, his role a little different with Elliott Anderson on the bench. Quansah takes a knock from Doue, it looked like a poke in the eye. Accidental, though.
30 min: Olise appears to have woken up, perhaps with an Mbappe flea in his ear. France have improved since their swigs of energy drink. It takes a combination of Rice and Spence to clear the latest danger.
28 min: Rogers loses the ball in midfield, and Olise sets off, playing in Mbappe, Guehi stoops to clear, and Henderson has the angle narrowed. An offside flag was waved – wrongly, it turns out.
27 min: Euan Scott gets in touch: “I find within myself a slight knot in my stomach not of worry but slight annoyance, cause we’re playing really well with this young dynamic squad, back-and-forth. It just makes me ask what if we had made such substitutions in the semi-finals? Can’t change the past though, and hopefully something in this fixture can make me less pessimistic.”
25 min: Mbappe, who has scored in two finals, and a hat-trick in the last, has looked desperate for a goal in a third-place play-off. He’s prowling with intent as they resume.
24 min: Ron Stack gets in touch, a Spurs fan at a guess: “Porro, Romero and Spence have all had an excellent World Cup, haven’t they? I guess it’s all downhill from here. Congrats to you and your Guardian colleagues for outstanding reporting and incisive (and brutal) commentary.”
23 min: France ready for the hydration break. Mbappe has a face like thunder but is full of intention and smashes a shot wide. Here comes the drinks, and in my case here, a deluge of David Beckham content.
21 min: David Wall gets in touch: “Ah, so Konsa for Gordon against Argentina was an attacking change all along! I guess we all owe Thomas an apology.”
20 min: The question will be asked: where were this England? But perhaps we should enjoy this for what it is, success on the international stage that was beyond reach for so long.
Goal! France 0-2 England (Konsa, 19)
Declan Rice’s ball is a pearler, and Konsa jumps high and unmarked, to nod home. England are heading for their best World Cup since 1966.
18 min: Saka has another chance, set up by Eze, cutting in on his favoured left. Lacroix’s boot deflects the ball behind. England look so dangerous on the counter.
17 min: Big noise from the fans in Miami.
15 min: Guehi comes across to stop a cross from the byline from Mbappe, who is NOT playing this game like it’s a glorified friendly. France make little of the resultant corner. Darren Fletcher now says this has “been the best World Cup we have ever seen”. Is Donald Trump doubling as script editor on Fox?
14 min: Michael S Weller gets in touch: “ Love your reference to Mark E. Smith, as the Fall are my favourite band, but I wonder if the legendary Prestwich resident might be more appropriate for Spain this summer? “We’ve got the repetition, in the” football, “and we’re never gonna lose it...repetition, in the defense...repetition, in the pressing...Marc Cucurella LOVES repetition, Unai Simon loves repetition...”
13 min: France look the team who are recovering from a painful defeat. And that’s because they are. They were the best team in the tournament until that Dallas semi.
Saka goal disallowed...
Just offside, bursting away as Quansah plays him in but a nice finish. France’s defence looks vulnerable.
11 min: Doue, at pace, sets up Cherki, who takes on the shot. Henderson saves well. Mbappe is asking his teammates for more. He really wants that second golden boot…
10 min: News that Dan Burn is warming up to come on and lead the defensive effort has been exaggerrated.
9 min: Rice has chance to whip in free-kick just down to the left, by the touchline. Konate, who has started well, gets it clear.
8 min: France are penned back, Saka and Toney both getting glimpses, but then Cherki sets off a counter and Mbappe cannot quite control the ball. The lack of jeopardy has allowed this game an element of cavalier spirit.
7 min: Rampant England. Rice has looked great. Saka also keen to get involved and the ball ends with Rashford, whose shot is fierce but deflected behind.
6 min: Konate steps across to deny a pass aimed for Toney.
5 min: France, who suffered their own disappointment, try to relaunch. Rabiot shows off his skill but cannot find Doue or Mbappe.
4 min: Big smiles from Harry Kane, applause from Thomas Tuchel, Rice’s celebration is muted. Let’s hope England don’t try and sit on this lead….
Goal! France 0-1 England (Rice, 3)
Well, what a start. Rice picks up a loose Doue ball and drills past Maignan.
2 min: A Rashford ball is aimed for Toney and headed away by Lacroix…
We are go in Miami....
1 min: France, in break from tourney tradition, do not hoof the ball out of play. Did they not get the memo? It’s at a slow pace, it’s hot and muggy out there. Djed Spence and Marcus Rashford link early down the left. Jarrell Quansah is playing on the right.
Charles Antaki, a man of culture, gets in touch: “I’m half-watching the BBC coverage online, doing something else on a different tab – they’re just showing images of a players warming up with some background music, presumably being played over the stadium PA. Nothing unusual so far… Except… Surely not? Yes! They’re playing a Charles Aznavour number. Charles Aznavour! Classic French crooner, total French icon, almost certainly a Légion D’Honneur. If they ‘re going to match that with a Brit, one wonder who it will be- Sir Cliff?”
Surely Sir Cliff. Perhaps Mark E Smith.
Here comes the English national anthem. Declan Rice is captain, which is one clue as to why he might have wanted to play.
Pravin Gopal gets in touch: “I find it laughable that Arsenal fans like Tom Johnson et al are complaining about England playing Saka and Rice. It was Arteta who ran them into the ground and played them while injured in his mythical quest to win the Premier League and Championship. If anybody is to blame for the injuries to them, which have been carried over while playing for Arsenal, it should be Arteta!”
In other news, Darren Fletcher in the commentary box, having dropped in the Battle of Agincourt, is telling viewers he’d like to take his shirt off because of the heat. Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel and Didier Deschamps share a manly hug as the national anthems begin, France going first.
Mike Nagle gets in touch: “Great coverage. Thank you very much. France put out a fairly strong team, England a much weaker one. What is going on here? It may be a match that no one wanted to play but it still is one in which we surely want to compete & try to win. What is your take on this?”
I guess England do indifference and the “I never fancied her anyway” better than anyone.
From those in Miami: "audible boos as Tuchel’s name was read out before the game.”
Perhaps Sir Keir Starmer could have styled it out with Tuchel now taking the brunt.
Tom Johnson gets in touch: “It is an absolute disgrace that Saka and Rice are playing. They are both clearly carrying injuries that have stopped them performing at their usual high standards. I hope Arteta is watching and withdraws them from every England game next season. I am bloody furious.”
Perhaps they asked to play, Tom.
