Konate fires back at Tuchel and vows France will honour Deschamps in England third-place clash

Ibrahima Konate has directly contradicted England manager Thomas Tuchel’s dismissal of the World Cup third-place play-off, insisting France will approach Saturday’s clash against England in Miami with full commitment and a desire to send Didier Deschamps out on a winning note.

Tuchel sparked the exchange after England’s semi-final defeat to Argentina, telling reporters that “nobody wants to play” a bronze-medal match. Konate, who has just completed a free transfer from Liverpool to Real Madrid, was having none of it.

“I’ve read in the press that Thomas Tuchel said that no-one wants to play this game,” the centre-back said. “Well, it’s true that, given the aim and objective we had, we wanted to play the final. But we are still representing France and it is the dream of many people to wear the shirt, the jersey, and sing the national anthem. Therefore we need to respect the jersey we are wearing.”

Konate was equally clear about the motivation to perform for Deschamps, who is stepping down as France head coach after the tournament. “As a player, we want to win for ourselves before wanting to win for anyone else, but it is true we want to pay back the French coach. He did so much for the French team, the individual players — he picked them all. We have to be grateful for that.”

France had entered the tournament as one of the favourites, with Kylian Mbappe still in contention for the Golden Boot. Their run ended at the semi-final stage against Spain, and Konate was measured in how he framed that defeat. “We lost against Spain who are the European champions. They have great players and great team strength. We are disappointed, but we lost to a great team. They might be crowned World Cup winners — therefore we can say we lost to the best.”

Despite the disappointment, Konate stressed that England versus France carries its own weight of history and that the occasion itself demands a proper performance. “We are disappointed, we didn’t want to play this third-place play-off, but it is still England v France — there is great history. We need to do our best to get this bronze medal.”

The match takes place in Miami on Saturday, with both sides looking to salvage something from a tournament that fell short of their ambitions.