It’s France’s turn now
Although England are leading by two goals, France have held on to more of the ball, which certainly looks to be the case as we resume from the drinks break.
Kylian Mbappe is caught off-side in the 28th minute, but England defended well regardless and Dean Henderson blocks the ball.
Michael Olise dribbles the ball up the pitch before being surrounded by three England defenders not long after.
England 2-0 France, 30 minutes
Drinks break statistics
That’s it until the first drinks break. Here are the stats so far:
England score again!
England have found another goal. This one comes from a corner and Rice has learnt from his earlier mistake, delivering the ball beautifully to the head of Ezri Konsa who finds the bottom-left corner of the goal.
They look so relaxed in this match.
England 2-0 France, 18 minutes
Saka goal ruled off-side!
England are doing exactly what they failed to do against Argentina – continue playing after taking the lead.
Bukayo Saka strikes next shooting at a tricky angle into the back right of the French goal, but he’s caught off-side. Seems like we’ll get plenty more goals in this match.
England 1-0 France, 13 minutes
Mbappe shot blocked, Rashford shoots wide
Neither side looks particularly energetic in this match so far as we go end-to-end. Mbappe fires off a shot in the fifth minute, but it’s blocked without causing considerable concern, while Rashford too has a shot blocked in the seventh.
England win a corner which Rice delivers in probably the poorest form of the tournament so far. Only reminiscent of Portugal’s round of 32 match, where balls were passed without any player in mind to find the end of them.
Djed Spence is making up for some of the lack of enthusiasm, however, when he stops Mbappe from getting another chance soon after.
England 1-0 France 8 minutes
GOAL! Declan Rice gives England an early lead
Wearing the captain’s armband, Declan Rice has opened the scoring for England in the third minute. It’s the first genuine shot on goal and Rice converts it after striding solo up the centre of the pitch while Marcus Rashford throws France’s defence off with a decoy run.
Rice barely celebrates but it’s exactly how England want to start this third-place play-off.
England 1-0 France, 3 minutes
Kick-off in Miami
We have lift-off in Miami as both teams, maybe somewhat begrudgingly, vie for third place.
England 0-0 France, 1 minute
The teams are out
Both teams are out, anthems have been sung. The match is minutes away. Let us know who you have as favourites in the poll below.
Who will claim third place?
What is Jordan Henderson doing on the bench?
He’s got a bloody broken wrist!
Which he broke in a freak injury he sustained while celebrating England’s Round of 16 win over Mexico. Despite not playing a minute of that match, Henderson got a yellow card from the sidelines and a trip to hospital for wrist surgery.
The 26-year-old sustained the injury when he climbed over an advertising sideboard to celebrate with his team. He tripped instead, landing on his wrist and had to be stretchered off the pitch amid the post-match celebrations. He underwent surgery at the Kansas City Orthopaedic Institute, which is about a 10-minute drive from their team hotel in the suburb of Prairie Village, Kansas.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
