World Cup 2026: Spain v Argentina final buildup; England win 10-goal thriller – live
Key events
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 even 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:
Preamble
Greetings greetings! forty-eight teams, five weeks and 103 matches; welcome to World Cup final day!
Of course we’ll be looking back at England’s absurd victory France, as well as forward to our Spain v Argentina denouement, the champions of Europe taking on the champions of South America with the former going for two major tournament wins in a row and the latter a fourth, including what would be a second consecutive World Cup and the first since Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962. Never has football seen anything like this.
So what makes these teams special? Send in your thoughts, and we’ll also reflect on our best and worst moments, goals, matches, performances, players, and ephemera. Let’s go!
