Thank you very much for joining us.

Head over to the match blog with the one and only Rob Smyth. Enjoy the game!

Andy Pye on Cookie Monster and Elmo: “Just wondering how many people screenshotted that photo and sent on saying that ‘Trump and Infantino had just arrived’? I was one of them.”

Simon Rimmer writes: “ITV pre-match and BBC for the game itself. Cannot listen to Matterface and Dixon.”

Paul Howarth says: “In regarding commentary, I’ll start with ITV, if it’s Sam Mattterface and Lee Dixon wittering on about irrelevant facts [like they did on the Norway game] I’ll turn over.”

Justin Kavanagh emails: “I have an Argentina shirt in my basement that was handed to me ten minutes after that goal by Dennis Bergkamp put them out of the ‘98 WC in Marseille. A tearful, mustachioed Argentinian had spent the previous 85 minutes telling me that the South Americans could not lose because of his “magic shirt.” Now, he sobbed, “the magic is gone.” And funnily enough, the two times I’ve worn it, they’ve lost. So, I’ll keep it in the drawer today, in the interests of fairness. But I have the Malbec and steak ready for 6 o’clock.”

That is commitment to the cause.

You will all be pleased to know that my job for later is comparing and contrasting the UK TV coverage because the game will be shown on ITV and BBC. Who are you backing?

Avram Grant in da house.

Mark van Raaij emails: “In staying with the “referee will favour Argentina” theme: first booking for Rodri, second minute.”

Have to admire that in the previous photo Swansea, Bolton and Blackburn are all represented.

Fernando Llorente is rightly front and centre.

England are represented at the final …

Gary Stover on the first booking: “Tagliafico 10th minute.”

Does anyone have any rituals for a match where they have no skin in the game? I am debating opening Rioja or Malbec later to give my backing to one of the sides. What should I go for?

I’d quite like to do a sweepstake on the first booking. I would go for Lisandro Martinez in the 17th minute.

Things are getting lively in New York.

Spain look unstoppable. Their 2-0 victory against France meant they have not lost a game in normal or extra time for 37 matches, which Opta revealed has equalled the best such stretch by a European team. However, Spain did lose the final of the 2025 Nations League to Portugal on penalties.

Like with all big American sporting events, it will be a night for being seen. I am not convinced I would have a pint with any of the celebrity guests but I am happy to change my opinion.

Mission Impossible for Argentina?

I am still not convinced they are going to sell many Lamine Yamal or Lionel Messi scarves today in Madrid.

Departing France coach Didier Deschamps decided to end his ⁠14-year spell in the role because of a “stifling atmosphere” around him, ⁠he said on ⁠Saturday, ​following Les Bleus’ 6-4 loss to England in the third-place match ⁠at the World Cup.

Deschamps announced last year that he would leave when his ⁠contract expired after the tournament. “I decided that it ​had to stop. ‌And if I ‌made that decision, it wasn’t for my own ‌sake – I’m telling you this in all honesty – it was for the good of the French team“, he told M6. “Because the atmosphere around me had become so stifling. The ‌French national team doesn’t deserve that.“

Deschamps was sometimes criticised for favouring balance, discipline ​and efficiency over spectacle, even when blessed with some of the most gifted attacking players in world football.

“Ever since the announcement, things have been ⁠much better for the French team,” he ​added.

Deschamps, who ​took charge in ​2012, will be remembered as the coach ​who led ‌France to ​their ​second world title in 2018, two decades after captaining them on the field to their first, hosted on home soil. AFP

All the big names are arriving for the match.

Not long to go now. Not many Spain or Argentina shirts knocking about on my travels today.

That, then, is it from me. Enjoy the game and I’ll see you to dissect it and everything else we’ve experienced over the last 17 weeks at 8am BST tomorrow. For now, though, Will Unwin is back to coax you closer to kick-off.

It’s almost time for me, so looking ahead to the final, I’m going for a 2-0 Spain win. I don’t think Argentina can live with them in midfield and also don’t see how Nicolás Tagliafico stops Lamine Yamal. I guess, if Scaloni’s men start quickly, they might force an opening goal, but if they don’t, how do they impose their game? My guess is they don’t, and I’d not be surprised if, as they tire, Spain bring on Pedri and Nico Williams, then pull away. It remains the case, though, that with Messi anything is possible.

More from New York…

US Secret Service staff are conducting individual body and bag searches of every fan attending the World Cup final leading to concerns that all of the 82,500 ticket holders may not get into the ground before kickoff.

Defending champions Argentina’s meeting with Spain at the New York/New Jersey Stadium has been designated as a National Special Security Event due to the attendance of US President Donald Trump, with the highest level of security measures put in place.

A US Secret Service agent told The Guardian that every fan will be searched as well as being subject to airport-style security. Thousands of US Secret Service agents are on duty with helicopters flying overhead five hours before kickoff.

“Everyone will be thoroughly searched,” one agent said. “It’s going to be an interesting day.”

A huge line of matchday operational and media staff had begun queuing to get into the stadium at 8am, with the crowd swelling to around ten thousands by the time the gates opened at 9am.

All staff were funnelled through one entrance, with just two stewards employed to scan accreditation passes before a further queue to access six airport scanners followed by the individual body searches.

Celebrities were not spared the searches with Jürgen Klopp, who is working as a pundit for German streaming service Magenta before replacing Julian Nagelsmann as Germany coach at the end of the World Cup, among those resigned to spending hours in the queue.

Most fans who have paid thousands of dollars to attend, with some tickets still being listed for sale at $34,500 yesterday, have yet to arrive but will face lengthy queues.

Trump is due to arrive on his helicopter, Marine One, in the hour before kick-off with his attendance at the final where he will present the trophy to the winning team adding complications to what was already a logistically challenging event for Fifa.

The New York/New Jersey Stadium is famously inaccessible, a problem compounded by the fact that the price of New Jersey transit trains from Manhattan have been increased to $98, which will add to traffic congestion.

The MetLife will, I imagine, be full of Argentina, the extent to which their support give them strength not to be underestimated. In theory, the game is the game wherever it’s played, but humans don’t work like that, and the backing Scaloni’s men get clearly lifts them.

Times Square yesterday…

Another of our men on the ground…

I’d like to add a cult hero, if I may: Pico Lopes.

Something to read on the great man. I can’t think of many whose top level was higher or who changed the game so profoundly.

I think it’s also worth noting the extent to which Spanish footballing culture pervades the grass-roots game around the world; along with Ronaldinho, who integrated freestyle trickery and attitude into the elite level, it is the biggest influence on the modern style.

“A week ago, France were the greatest side ever seen in a World Cup,” says Gary Stover. “Anybody think Hall or Shaw would have been better than Spence? Anybody think Foden or Palmer would have saved England v Argentina? Maybe someone who’s currently having to make things work on the pitch, say Emma Hayes, has a better understanding of today’s game. Born in England, made in the USA, she sees first hand how the attitudes of me first, team second have slowed the development of both.”

I don’t think it’s right to say Hayes was made in the USA – she was already an all-timer before she moved. But yes, I agree that Shaw and Hall are both better than the left-backs taken ahead of them.

I advocated for this before Argentina played England, and they didn’t do it, but can they really afford to take on Spain with a midfield two? I’d get Lautaro into a tight front three with Simeone dropping out, then a narrow trio behind them and the full-backs tasked with supplying width.

“I’m wary of disagreeing with Emma Hayes,” writes David Wall, “but i think she’s wrong about the importance of individuals to Spain. Spain have been hindered in this tournament because Williams has barely been able to play and Lamine Yamal has been half-fit for a lot of it. The replacements for them are simply not up to their class and impact. Perhaps in terms of creating passing angles and retaining possession it’s not important which individuals are playing as almost all of the Spanish players do that by habit. But it’s just not true to say that particular individuals don’t make a significant difference to how they play and how effective they are.”

I don’t think someone who’s managed so many brilliant individuals doesn’t think the best of them can determine the outcome of games. Rather, Spain rely on a style, inculcated from young and through the age-groups, in a way other countries do not.

I did, though, love Promise David’s effort for Canada against Switzerland. Feels a long, long time ago , that.

What’s your goal of the tournament? I don’t actually think this one is close…

…given the circumstances, it can only be Sidny Lopes Cabral.

“The never ending introspection after England go out of a major tournament is the gift that keeps on giving,” says Niall Mullen. “What does the Peasant’s Revolt tell us about our inability to keep the ball under pressure? Do the Corn Laws mean we’ll never truly thrive in a positionally inflexed modern game etc.? All of this disappears if various penalties down the years aren’t missed, if Gazza doesn’t slow down in 1996, or if Jordan Pickford was a step to his right and had slightly longer arms on Wednesday night. The psychoanalysis of a nation based on the bounce of a ball is obviously absurd, but it is hugely entertaining. So please keep it coming.”

The problem, ultimately is the unwritten constitution. England won’t win anything until Parliament passes a bill of rights.

More on Will’s post below about Messi bathing Lamine Yamal. Great work, you have to say.

Also going on:

Goodness me, what a day of sport this is.

Thanks Will and hi again all. I can confirm I’ve flogged my ageing carcass on treadmill and sauna, so am now full of endorphins or ready to expire; definitely one of the two.

Daniel Harris is mentally and physically primed for two more hours of content. Back in a bit.

Where Spain have abandoned the notion of la furia, Argentina have embraced it. It’s obviously not as simple as just staying in the game until Messi can do something brilliant, but equally his capacity to turn matches through ability and force of will is in an enormous asset. The Messi-inspired late surge has been the defining feature of Argentina in the knockout stage.

I think Spain have the stronger bench and with the likes of Nico Williams primed to come off it for a cameo, some damage could be done down the flanks late on. The Argentina full-backs aren’t much to write home about, so will be fear some fresh legs when they are tired.

Our brave boys are home.

Tottenham first-team coach Stuart Lewis is set to leave to take up a role at newly promoted Premier League club Ipswich, the Press Association understands.

Former Wycombe and Gillingham midfielder Lewis has spent the last decade coaching at Spurs and won three trophies in charge of the Under-18s across a four-year spell before he earned a promotion last summer.

Lewis, 38, spent the 2025-26 campaign in a newly created first-team academy transition coach role and helped Jun’ai Byfield and Luca Williams-Barnett make their professional debuts during a difficult season for Tottenham, but will now join Ipswich as part of Gary O’Neil’s coaching set-up.

It ends a lengthy association with the north London club for Lewis, who featured in the FA Youth Cup for Spurs as a player before he returned as a coach in 2015 and contributed towards the development of highly-rated teenager Mikey Moore, who excelled on loan at Rangers last season. PA Media

It is a bumper day of live sport …

Formula One

Cricket

Cycling

Golf

Needless to say, it’s been a busy few days for Sid. He’s also been writing about that of Lionel Messi and baby Lamine Yamal.

I wonder what the rubber duck is up to now.

The man who took it, the photographer Joan Monfort, says he didn’t believe in destiny before but does now. In it, Messi, the greatest footballer of all time, bathes an unknown baby with a cherubic smile. The child, chosen at random and surrounded by bubbles, is Lamine Yamal. The footballer De la Fuente says was “touched by God’s wand” was baptised by him too.

Sid Lowe went to have a big chat with Mikel Merino (another Basque) about his role as supersub at this World Cup and plenty more.

Coming from the bench isn’t the ideal plan for any player, but when you join a national team that’s as strong as I and Lautaro have, you value every opportunity and try to help your team if you come on or if you don’t. You focus on the present, embrace the situation, and think of yourself as the guy who can do it. I have complete belief in myself, my ability: every time I come on to the pitch I think I can have impact. In the final, I hope anyone [Spanish] is the hero. The trophy belongs to all of you, not just the 11 on the pitch.”

Unai Simon has had a quietly confident World Cup, helping take Spain to the final. It always go to show that having a Basque goalkeeper is worthwhile. I suspect he will have a key moment later on that could define his tournament.

Can Lionel Messi catch Kylian Mbappe after the Frenchman’s two goals last night?

I would still suggested goals in the bronze medal match are worth less.

It’s an impressively quick turnaround from finishing a match in Miami at midnight BST. You have to admire the logistics involved.

Hopefully the players can finally get some rest are a ludicrously elongated tournament.

The England squad has safely arrived back in the UK, landing at Birmingham Airport not long ago.

Ed Aarons has come up with his player ratings for the England squad from this tournament.

It transpires that Jude Bellingham was quite good.

Senne Lammens will come back from his World Cup frustration as a better goalkeeper, according to Manchester United team-mate Tom Heaton.

Lammens was at fault in Belgium’s 2-1 quarter-final loss to Spain when he spilt Pau Cubarsi’s 25-yard strike into the path of Mikel Merino, who fired into the roof of the net for an 88th-minute winner.

Lammens had come off the bench to replace an injured Thibaut Courtois in what was his only appearance at the World Cup. It was a huge moment for the 24-year-old but, having spoken to him in the aftermath, Heaton has no doubt the man who has locked down United’s number one position will bounce back.

“It was obviously a challenging moment for him, but I think that’s the life of a goalkeeper,” Heaton said following United’s 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat to Wrexham in Helsinki. “As soon as you put the gloves on and go between the sticks, you have to be ready to deal with that. He certainly is. I actually think he’ll be stronger for it.

“I think his personality is fantastic for a goalkeeper, so no issues there. It’s obviously disappointing for him, but I do honestly think it can help him in the long run.”

All goalkeepers go into a match knowing any mistakes are likely to lead to goals and can determine games. Heaton is sure Lammens has the personality to handle it at the highest level.

“I’ve certainly seen that from him as a young goalkeeper coming into Manchester United and dealing with that unbelievably well,” Heaton added. “I highly doubt he’ll be going into (the next match) with fear or worrying about what may happen. It’s more about what you want to go and achieve, whilst also accepting if it happens you can deal with it.” PA Media

Get in the mood for the final by testing your brain matter with this devilish quiz.

Bukayo Saka hailed England’s mentality after their thrilling 6-4 win over France sealed a third-place finish at the World Cup. It’s England’s best finish at the tournament since winning it in 1966.

My colleague Philipp Lahm has written his latest column.

The architect of Spain’s vision is Johan Cruyff. He brought the 4-3-3 formation and a specific ideology to Barcelona. A cadre of tactical purists, such as Pep Guardiola and Unai Emery, refined his approach into a philosophy that has defined the playing style of the entire league, all youth squads and the national team for nearly two decades. Its principles include ball-oriented defending, clearly defined positions and roles, a high level of organisation, and technical, combination-based football. Eleven players operate as a unit, moving like a swarm.

Spain’s head coach, Luis de la Fuente, has internalised this guiding philosophy. He spent decades working in youth development at club and federation level, and his assistants are longtime associates. On the pitch, this style is embodied by Rodri, the world’s best player.

Fifa has been accused of providing an “open door to fraud” and allowing political influence to cast doubt on the integrity of the World Cup in a stinging rebuke by the Council of Europe’s secretary general.

In an open letter published to coincide with Sunday’s final, Alain Berset also called for a new integrity framework to be built before the 2030 tournament, which is mainly being staged in Europe, and warned that Fifa was embroiled in a crisis involving money and power.

Niall Mullen writes: “The never ending introspection after England go out of a major tournament is the gift that keeps on giving. What does the Peasant’s Revolt tell us about our inability to keep the ball under pressure? Do the Corn Laws mean we’ll never truly thrive in a positionally inflexed modern game etc.? All of this disappears various penalties down the years aren’t missed, if Gazza doesn’t slow down in 1996, or if Jordan Pickford was a step to his right and had slightly longer arms on Wednesday night. The psychoanalysis of a nation based on the bounce of a ball is obviously absurd, but it is hugely entertaining. So please keep it coming.”

THIS IS WHAT WE LIVE FOR!!!

Goalkeeper Radek Vitek is ready to leave Manchester United in search of regular first-team football.

The 22-year-old spent last season on loan with Bristol City, where the former Czech Republic Under-21 international kept 12 clean sheets in 41 appearances.

With Senne Lammens having locked down United’s number-one spot since joining last September and Karl Darlow freshly arrived as his new number two, Vitek knows he must leave Old Trafford to further his development and is ready to make the move permanent if necessary.

“I feel great and ready to go again somewhere to hopefully be number one,” Vitek said after playing the second half of United’s 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat to Wrexham in Helsinki. “I hope there will be some interest. I think you will know when the things are more concrete.”

Vitek, who has been linked with Scottish champions Celtic, has two years left on the United contract he signed last summer. He joined United as a 16-year-old from Czech club Sigma Olomouc and spent time on loan with Accrington and Austrian club BW Linz before spending last season in the Championship.

Asked if he preferred a loan or a permanent move, Vitek added: “I’m ready for both to be fair. It depends on what the club wants and also depends on the options and, yeah, we’ll see.

“There’s been a few interests on the table, but we’re hoping to get the best one and hopefully it will happen soon. I want to play every week and that’s the goal for next season. Hopefully I find out soon where that’s going to be.” PA Media

The Nobel prize-winning economist Simon Kuznets said there were four types of countries: developed, underdeveloped, Japan and Argentina. Not fitting easily into a type, especially in our binary times when complexity and nuance have become increasingly alien to our processing abilities, is characteristic of Argentina and its people.

There is a meme doing the rounds that says: “To kick the Spanish out, first we had kick out the British. History is cyclical and repeats itself.” The image is of battles of independence more than two centuries ago, and the reference is to two British military incursions met with enough resistance to stop them. We learn about the British invasions in primary school in Argentina but I have never met a Briton who has heard of them.

Thanks Daniel. Larks galore await!

Righto, that’s it from me for now. Here’s Will Unwin, who’ll croon you through the next bit.

It’s amazing, really, the environment Scaloni has cultivated for his squad. Their sense of mission is palpable, the sense of destiny mystical, and their unity in that supernatural. How well that works against Spain’s composure will go a long way towards settling our final.

For England, watching Sunday’s final will be painful. Why can’t we cross the line? Is it to do with our social, cultural makeup? I believe it is to do with the mental part of the game. At the highest level you have to train your muscles in your brain as much as you train the rest of your body, to be able ensure emotion doesn’t plague your performance under pressure. We have to ask ourselves, why are Argentina so successful at delivering when it really matters and we’re not?

This is not about tactics, it is not about substitutions. We are being shortsighted and emotional when we discuss those things straight after a semi-final defeat. Long term, we have to ask what is it in our psyche that we haven’t addressed as a nation to overcome this? And how do we all contribute to that; players, coaches, fans, media, clubs … all of us?

I think this point is reflected in the difficulty English football has with controlling midfielders, players able to remain calm in the maelstrom, in favour of box-to-boxers charging about, exhorting their teammates to yet greater physical effort.

Emma Hayes has been, for mine, the best pundit on UK telly. I’m delighted to embed her in written form.

We’re just under way at Lord’s…

Email! “I know not many people pay attention to the Olympics,” writes Santi Alonso, a nervous Spain fan in the UK. “But after winning the Euros, Spain had a barnstorming final against Henry’s France. Fermín and Alex were part of the Euros squad and went on to win the gold medal and, due to Fermín’s injury Alex finds himself in a unique position. Should Spain win today, he would simultaneously be reigning European champion, reigning Olympic champion and reigning world champion. That exact three-crown status would be unprecedented. Quite literally the most complete reigning international champion any male footballer has ever been.”

Decent haul, in fairness.

I daresay the sides will be hoping for different things from the ref. Spain will want Slavko Vincic to punish fouls and dish out cards, while Argentina will hope he gives players a chance or two and lets the game flow. I’m not foreseeing a classic.

Argentina have scored goals, yes, but doing so against Spain is a different proposition to against any other team, requiring a level of efficiency in possession and ruthlessness when converting chances. In Messi and Julián Alvarez, they have players able to bag out of nothing, but whether they’re afforded requisite opportunity to make that happen is far from a given.

I do wonder, though, if Argentina will change systems, as I’m not sure you can beat Spain with a 4-4-2. France’s 4-2-3-1 cost them the game, I think, Deschamps’ major error not leaving out a wide attacker for an extra midfielder. Though De la Fuente’s men aren’t the greatest in attack, the control they’ll have if Rodri, Fabián Ruiz and Dani Olmo have only Leandro Paredes and Alexis Mc Allister tracking them will surely be too great for them to be seriously threatened.

But should Argentina man-mark Rodri? I’m minded – of course – of the time Sam Allardyce stuck Kevin Davies on Claude Makélélé, and I’m certain Scaloni is too. Thing is, Rodri is a different league as a player, stronger, cleverer and a better passer; perhaps it’d make more sense to try cutting off his passing angles.

I can’t think of any reason to man-mark Messi. He barely features in the game these days, so to take a man away from your own team takes away the advantage of a contest that, at times, is 11v10. What Spain must do is track his run when he attacks the box and, er, um … not allow him unchallenged possession just outside their box for 15 minutes straight until he conjures something.

Stillgrizzly

19 July 2026 8:22am

This comment has been chosen by Guardian staff because it contributes to the debate

The match last night was crazy, England could have had eight in the first half, France eight in the second. Hard to pull any real meaning from it, but maybe for all if Kane's goals, wonder if the game moves at a different pace with him playing, Eze, Saka and Spence played with real fluidity and skill, Rice had a good game as well. And the best France attacking line up is scarily good.

Argentina has to go down as a learning experience for Tuchel, let's hope that we take on board the points for improvement from that...

The thing with Kane is he needs service, which is one reason I think his big-game record is spotty: it’s hard to give him what he needs against the better teams. But it’s also the case that England’s wingers, perhaps with the exception of Saka, aren’t providers, rather wide attackers looking to get themselves to goal. I think that’s why, as the tournament progressed, Kane seemed to drop deeper, playing more as an attacking pivot than a spearhead – all the more so as England’s full-backs weren’t equipped to keep the width. The problem is not insurmountable, but for it to be solved, the manager must recognise it exists.

To change the subject for a second and return to an old one, the more i think about it, the more £117m on Morgan Rogers is bizarre. It’s amazing that Chelsea are able to keep spending like this, almost £2bn done in four years; if that’s within the rules, the rules are wrong, because it isn’t sport.

Theren’t many, if any, better at dissecting football and Argentinian culture than Marcela.

I struggle to see a footballing route to victory for Argentina, but luckily for them, it’s not really about that, rather a quasi-religious attempt to write their own mythology: they believe. And that is a very potent thing, especially when as the high prophet of destiny, they have Lionel Messi.

The extent to which the squad revere him, committed to doing his running, getting him the ball, and getting after anyone who dare foul or cheek him, is unlike anything I’ve seen before. If Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martínez play really well – and they are capable – they’ve a chance.

So to our final…

A bit of non-World Cup news:

I like Andrey Santos – in particular his ability to punch passes through the lines. He’s not as good as Mateus Fernandes, who United hoped to sign, and in the end, quality is more important than value for money, but the arrival of Youri Tielemans for a bargain fee makes this look a fairly solid acquisition.

The miscalculation here is that football, rather than making money because it exists, exists to make money. Flogging tickets to corporates is no great genius and there is more than enough money in the game to keep it for the people – the problem is the lack of will and care.

For England, I’m not sure I’d want to use Rogers in the same XI as Jude Bellingham – initially, Tuchel felt the same and I’m not certain why he changed. If you’ve got Harry Kane in your team, you need wide players to service him, and Rogers is looking to score, not provide.

What do we think about this move? I guess I’m glad he’s not going to Arsenal, who I think need a winger more than a threat starting from wide – Christos Tzolis seems a better fit – and I’m interested to see how Xabi Alonso uses him.

The fee, of course, is astounding – he’s a good player but neither elite nor a cert to become so – but if any transfer succeeds, it’s worth the money a club is lucky enough to pay for it.

Watching England against France – though, of course, defensive intensity was lower – it was still noticeable how dangerous Saka and Marcus Rashford were on the counter. Had Tuchel sent them on against Argentina soon after England scored, Lionel Scaolini’s men would’ve had to respect it and might well have feared it, forced, at the very least, to leave defenders back to mark them, while their own team would’ve had out-balls and a serious threat, meaning when they cleared their lines, it wouldn’t have simply been to face yet another attack.

It find it strange that, given his team struggled for control and also to break down tight defences, Tuchel didn’t give Mainoo a single second on the pitch – and seemed to have decided as much by the Panama game, when he brought on Henderson in preference. England desperately lacked midfield balance, control, poise and craft, a problem that eventually cost them – and is the main reason I’d have given them little chance of beating Spain had they made the final. Anderson and Rice are fine players, but given Bellingham is essential, I’d want only one, with the trio completed by a more technical and cerebral type – which needn’t be Mainoo, he was just the only one in the squad.

Kobbie Mainoo’s position in the team-group shot is sadly perfect.

I can’t say this didn’t grind ma gears. In picking Henderson, a player miles off the standard and never likely to play in a meaningful match – with Adam Wharton, Morgan Gibbs-White, Fill Phoden and Cole Palmer left at home – the tacit message was the players weren’t trusted to motivate and inspire themselves, the squad sufficiently complete to do without maverick and unique attacking talents. it was patently not the case at the time, and was shown to be so throughout the tournament.

Tuchel revealed that Jordan Henderson had delivered a speech before the game that had helped to put their achievement in perspective. ‘He put us in the right frame of mind, with everyone in one mindset. It was unbelievable because today was very emotional. We built something very special in the last seven weeks, and we’ll never negotiate on that. I still stand by my words, that we need to play better football, manage games better under pressure, take better decisions under pressure. We need to defend more economically.”

Tuchel shares his thoughts on game and tournament.

Here’s Ed Aarons’ match report.

Was Thomas Tuchel too sparing in his use of Saka? If he was fit enough to start and star against France, he was surely ready to deliver against Argentina, yet Morgan Rogers was preferred from the start and, in the event, didn’t even get on to the pitch. I can’t say those are calls which looked great at the time, nor have they aged well.

This isn’t the first time the third-place playoff has delivered goals. I wonder if, in a match which does’t matter that much to the teams, many of whom are nursing severe disappointment and regret – certainly so of England and France – defending is the first thing to go.

A score more tennis than football, but what do we think of England 6-4 France? Relive it with John Brewin’s MBM report: