England vs France LIVE: Team news and build up to World Cup bronze final match

England take on France tonight, in the

World Cup

match nobody wants to play.

Both European sides had aspirations of becoming world champions on Sunday night, but were beaten in their semi finals.

The Three Lions

suffered more heartache against Argentina

, after conceding twice in the final five minutes, while France were beaten handedly by Spain.

But rather than be on the next flight home, the two will play in what is being called for the first time: The Bronze Final match.

A win for

Thomas Tuchel

's side would ensure his side record the nation's greatest ever finish on foreign soil.

Pep Guardiola told friends he would like to manage England in the future after initially turning down the job in 2024. The Spaniard stepped down from Manchester City this summer following a glittering decade in charge.

The ex-City manager verbally agreed to take charge of England in 2024 following talks with FA chiefs. However, The Athletic reported that he drastically changed his mind at the last moment and opted to stay at the Etihad for another two seasons.

Donald Trump has been among those to criticise Thomas Tuchel's tactics against Argentina, and mocked the Three Lions for turning Harry Kane into a defender.

A trio of England players are thought to have complained to Thomas Tuchel over his tactical decisions in the aftermath of the Three Lions being knocked out of the World Cup on Wednesday. The Three Lions made it all the way to the semi-finals of the tournament before they suffered a cruel 2-1 loss to Argentina.

In the aftermath, a number of fans were quick to call for Tuchel's job due to his defensive approach during the fixture after going a goal up. However, the 52-year-old was even quicker to reaffirm his commitment to seeing out his contract, which runs through Euro 2028.

Mirror Chief football writer John Cross and host Harry Brent are outside the Miami Stadium to react to England head coach Thomas Tuchel's heated press conference where he refused to "play the blame game" and defended his tactics.

Tuchel said the Argentina semi-final defeat was his "scar" to bear. John Cross was at the press conference and said it was one of the most "tense and intense" he has ever been to.

The Make Football Great Again episode also looks ahead to Saturday night's third place playoff with France in Miami, and John gives his overall tournament ratings for England's squad.

FIFA are finding it hard to ensure England's clash with France on Saturday night is a sellout.

There is an underwhelming sense about the World Cup's third place play-off with both teams harbouring hopes of making the final on Sunday - and that is reflected in the appetite for tickets.

Around 7,000 tickets were still available as of 10am UK time on Friday - which was 36 hours before kick-off in Miami. There were still 1,246 tickets left on general sale listed at a price of £657 and £855.

“I think even if we don't want to admit it, because it always feels like an excuse, and we would never talk about it, but I feel that the game in Mexico, the altitude, the travelling, we lost a complete amount of sleep, and the game in the heat in Norway in extra time and was smaller than.

“So I felt that, and I think it is part of the development of the game. The players; these players are very important. They will literally gain everything physically in every single match.

“If you see these data drop, there must be a reason behind it because the motivation was through the roof, like for every other team who made it into.

“We could not reach these kind of intensities. I think Argentina found another year, found another moment, found another belief.

No one remembers who finishes third... well yes, maybe there's something in that. But equally, good teams finish on a high. Take the psychological positive where you can.

Tuchel clearly isn't happy about playing the blame game - but he's shoulder the responsibility for the loss to Argentina.

There's no doubt he's come out fighting, and said on Friday: "I take responsibility. Listen, if it's easier, easier if someone takes the blame, I take the blame. It's not wronging. This is the death that you sign up for, as I understand it. But you have every right to do so.

"But I will not engage. I will not engage in this kind of game. For me, there is no one to blame. Need someone to blame? I take the responsibility and the head coach. Like I say, we make in-game decisions based on trust, on our competitiveness, on the experience, and on what we actually feel and I feel in the game.

There's a lot of talk of Tuchel simply being no better than Southgate after he went full on defensive and failed to control a semi-final.

Well the German can do one thing his predecessor failed to do - and that's finish third at a World Cup. After England lost to Croatia in 2018 they were downed by Belgium in the third place play-off.

Let's try and get excited eh? Third is better than fourth after all.

Morning!

The main event is today right? The Three Lions back in action.