By Ben Church, CNN
(CNN) — There’s a World Cup match on today and absolutely not one person taking part in it wants to be there.
As we head into the final weekend of this magical 2026 World Cup, we have one of the strangest parts of the schedule to deal with first: The Bronze Final. England and France both lost this week, putting a stop to their summer dreams of World Cup glory, and yet they still aren’t quite allowed to go home.
Let’s get into why this match even exists and look ahead to Sunday’s final a bit more.
The Main Thing: England and France compete for ‘chocolate’ medal
After losing their semifinals just a few days ago, England and France were probably desperate to get out of the USA and heal their wounds in the comfort of their own homes.
But due to what I think is a strange quirk in the World Cup schedule, neither has been able to do so because they’ve got one more match to play.
The teams have flown to Miami to play the Bronze Final (previously the third-place playoff) in a game that no one truly cares about.
Yes, the winner gets $2 million more in prize money but trying to pump yourself up for a match after failing to reach the final is practically impossible.
Even FIFA President Gianni Infantino momentarily forgot about the game yesterday when he was addressing the media at Trump Tower next to the US president.
“There is one more game to go,” he said proudly, before realizing his mistake. “Well, two more games. The bronze medal tomorrow.”
In truth, you can’t blame him for not putting little importance on that match because the players themselves don’t want to be there either.
“None of us wanted to play in this game for third place,” France defender Ibrahima Konaté said. “But we don’t have a choice to play.”
It’s a similar story for England, who missed out on its first World Cup final since 1966 in heartbreaking fashion to Argentina.
“Nobody wants to be, tomorrow, in this game,” England’s manager Thomas Tuchel told reporters Friday. “All of these four teams wanted to be in New York (at the final). But it is an official World Cup game.”
Of course, like every match, there is at least something to play for.
For England, it’s a chance to record its best World Cup finish in 60 years, having lost the third-place playoff to Belgium in 2018. Tuchel says it’s impossible to switch off that competitive mentality and promised that his team would give its all.
For France, it’s an opportunity to give outgoing manager Didier Deschamps a winning send-off in what will be his final game in charge of the national team.
Deschamps had previously announced this tournament would be his last after such a successful spell in charge. He turned Les Bleus into a powerhouse yet again and led his country to the World Cup title back in 2018.
And while he wasn’t able to do it again this summer, his players seem motivated to give him a fitting goodbye.
“We want to pay back our coach,” Konaté added. “He did so much for the France team. We must be grateful to him for that, and we need to do everything we can to win this game … to get this chocolate medal, this bronze medal.”
Lastly, this game might also mean something more to Kylian Mbappé in the hunt for the Golden Boot. He has currently scored the same amount of goals as Lionel Messi (8), and this will be his last chance to usurp the Argentine in the race for the individual award.
The game will kick off at 5 p.m. ET later today in the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Who knows whether it will be worth a watch…
Quote of the day
These are the words of the inevitable headline-maker, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who addressed reporters at Trump Tower on Friday to reflect on the tournament.
Infantino shared the stage in a love