There are just two games left in the World Cup as France and England battle it out for third place ahead of Sunday’s final.
France and England will meet in the third-place play-off, while attention also turns to Argentina’s match with Spain, where Lionel Messi and Lamin Yamal are set to battle it out between generations.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Here’s what you need to know:
What is the schedule for the game for third place?
What are the forecasts?
France and England met three times at the FIFA World Cup. England won the first two meetings, beating France 2–0 in the 1966 group stage and 3–1 in the first group stage in 1982. France won their last meeting, beating England 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
France are favorites to win the third-place play-off, according to supercomputer Opta. After running 25,000 pre-match simulations, the model gave Les Bleus a 50.7% chance of winning after 90 minutes. England had a 25.6 percent chance of winning, with 23.7 percent of simulations ending in a draw after normal time.
What do we know about the ending?
Spain and Argentina will meet in the final on Sunday, July 19 at New York-New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, with kick-off scheduled for 19:00 GMT.
Spain are chasing a second World Cup crown while defending champions Argentina are hoping to secure a fourth title. Their last meeting came in a 2018 friendly in Madrid, where Spain won 6-1.
US President Donald Trump is expected to attend the final and present the World Cup trophy to the winners.
In addition to the cup and gold medals, the winners will also receive something new. For the first time, FIFA will award championship rings, a tradition borrowed from North American sports. 30 rings will be made for the winning team, and an additional 1,996 collectible rings will be sold to fans.
The rings will then be personalized to reflect the winning team’s personality and individually fitted before being unveiled at a later date. One side will feature the World Cup trophy, while the other will feature champion details.
Organizers are also monitoring air quality after smoke from Canadian wildfires prompted health advisories in parts of the New York metropolitan area. There is no indication yet that this will affect Sunday’s finale.
What else is going on?
Tuchel’s tactics cause backlash
England’s defeat to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals sparked harsh criticism of Thomas Tuchel, with many accusing the German coach of repeating the mistakes that have dogged England for decades.
After England squandered a 1-0 lead and lost 2-1, the British media questioned Tuchel’s tactical decisions, particularly his defensive changes. Headlines described it as “the same old story” and critics claimed the coach “just cowered” when it mattered most.
Former England captain Gary Lineker also questioned whether Tuchel was the right man to lead the team, saying he was hired specifically to deliver a major trophy after years of failure under Gareth Southgate. Like his predecessor, Tuchel has been accused of becoming too cautious after taking charge. Many argue that his changes caused pressure and ultimately cost England their place in the World Cup final.
From the bath to the World Cup final
Nearly two decades ago, photographer Joan Monfort thought little of a charity photo shoot featuring 20-year-old Lionel Messi bathing a child in a plastic bathtub. Years later it turned out that this child was Lamin Yamal, which became one of the most remarkable coincidences in football.
The pictures, taken in 2007 for a charity calendar produced by Sport newspaper and UNICEF, have resurfaced ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final, where Messi’s Argentina will face Spain’s Yamal. The photos show Messi tenderly washing the baby, whose family was randomly selected through a lottery in the Catalan town of Mataro.
Monfort, who took the photos while working on the assignment, said the coincidence still surprises him. “I never believed that anything was going to happen, but I’m starting to have doubts,” he told The Associated Press.
The story became even more extraordinary when you consider what followed. Messi established himself as one of the greatest players in football history before leaving Barcelona in 2021, with Yamal becoming the club’s next superstar just two years later. Now the pair meet on opposite sides of the World Cup final, completing a journey that began with a chance photo shoot almost 20 years ago.
Smoke from forest fires has disrupted preparations for the World Cup finals
Spain’s preparations for the World Cup finals were impacted by hazardous air quality caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires as players trained outdoors in northern New Jersey on Thursday under foggy skies.
Media were only allowed to watch the first 15 minutes of the hour-long workout, so it’s unclear how intense the workout was. Argentina, meanwhile, remained at their training base near Atlanta after their semi-final win over England on Wednesday, avoiding the worst of the smoke due to their more southern location.
Smoke blowing south from wildfires in northern Ontario has prompted air quality warnings in parts of the Midwestern and Northeastern United States. Health officials urged people to stay home or wear masks outdoors as pollution reached hazardous levels.
Medical experts have questioned the decision to conduct outdoor training in such conditions. Dr. Courtney Howard, an emergency physician and spokeswoman for the Global Alliance on Climate and Health, said elite athletes should avoid training outdoors when smoke from wildfires reaches dangerous levels and are advised to use air-conditioned rooms instead.