England’s World Cup finished the way so few of their tournaments have — with a wry smile.
A 6-4 win over France in Miami secured third place, England’s best finish since 1966, and gave Marc Guehi and Elliot Anderson a decent send-off after a tournament in which both were central figures. Nico O’Reilly, too, was central to Tuchel’s plans, but he was an unused sub last night, along, again, with James Trafford
Guehi’s night in Miami was the latest in a run that stretched back through the knockout rounds – starting alongside John Stones and Reece James in the semi-final defeat to Argentina, and Tuchel picked him again for the bronze match, this time next to Ezri Konsa.
He was solid — strong in the tackle, comfortable in possession — but came up against it in the second half as the French mounted their comeback. He was withdrawn in the 93rd minute, with Trevoh Chalobah sent on to close things out.
It caps a summer in which he’s gone from a fringe pick to a regular starter, a shift that lines up with his January move to Man City.
Anderson’s tournament followed much the same pattern – starting against Argentina, in central midfield, and was one of the players Tuchel used most through the knockout stage.
He dropped to the bench for the bronze match and came on for Eberechi Eze with just over ten minutes left, helping see out a spell of heavy France pressure. Along with Jude Bellingham, he helped steady the ship in what had been a frantic second-half.
Ten-goal thriller…
The match itself, despite it being a battle for bronze, was worth the ticket price on its own. England were four goals up inside 45 minutes — Declan Rice and Konsa scoring early, Bukayo Saka adding two before the break.
France were poor, and manager Didier Deschamps called his side’s first-half performance “catastrophic” in what was his final game in the job.
The second half was a different story. Kylian Mbappé scored twice to become the World Cup’s all-time top scorer, overtaking Lionel Messi. Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé pulled two more back, and briefly it looked almost certain that England would let the lead slip.
Saka completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after Djed Spence won a foul, and Bellingham came off the bench to score brilliantly late on, becoming the first Englishman to reach seven goals at a single World Cup.
None of it erases the hurt of the semi-final defeat to Argentina. But for Guehi and Anderson, this was a tournament that did their club form no harm at all — Man City in particular will be watching Guehi’s rise with interest — and a bronze medal is a decent way to end it.
