Neither France and England wanted to be here when the World Cup started. But the two star-studded teams, favourites for the title, now find themselves playing in a 3rd placed match in Miami, occasionally stealing a glance towards the summit clash between Argentina and Spain in the Metlife stadium on Sunday.
Kylian Mbappe’s France were outplayed by a well-oiled Spanish machine, losing the first semifinal 2-0 without even having a sniff of a chance of winning it. England, meanwhile, had taken the lead vs Argentina in the semifinal only to crash and burn 2-1 after going defensive and failing to stop Lionel Messi from delivering two picture-perfect assists.
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France vs England Football Updates
France captain Kylian Mbappé is among several elite footballers with immigrant roots representing their adopted nations. (Photo Credit: Reuters)
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THE MAKESHIFT tent on the edge of the playing field at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, a sprawling public park in New York’s Queens borough, is blaring the Latino chartbuster DTMF by the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny.
A few teenage players tap their feet to its tunes, their gaze fixed on a game of football in the middle. A volley from 20 yards clangs onto the crossbar, and coach Vincent Cordoba, a stern-looking elderly Colombian man with small, sharp eyes, throws a water bottle to the ground in anger. He shouts expletives in Spanish and instructs his players to tighten up their defence and fall back in numbers.
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