England will play France in the World Cup 'bronze medal' match in Miami on Saturday after failing to reach the final and Ibrahima Konate wants to win it for Didier Deschamps18:30, 17 Jul 2026Ibrahima Konate insists France are ready to play the third-place play-off - even if Thomas Tuchel does not fancy it.‌Three Lions boss Tuchel claimed “nobody wants to play” after losing their semi-final to Argentina which leaves England facing France in Miami on Saturday.‌But former Liverpool defender Konate, who has just joined Real Madrid on a free transfer, says it is still a matter of national pride for France and they want to win it for departing coach Didier Deschamps.‌Konate said: “I believe as French players, for this team, many players would have loved to compete and played this game. I’m not saying it’s easy, far from it.“I’ve read in the press that Thomas Tuchel said that no-one wants to play this game. 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. If we believe that this is a duty of ours, we will play with the best team in the same way we did at the start of this competition.“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.“The players on the pitch will want to win. We are disappointed, we didn’t want to play this third place playoff, but it is still England v France, there is great history. We need to do our best to get this bronze medal.”‌France had become strong favourites through the rounds of the World Cup with Kylian Mbappe still chasing the Golden Boot.But Konate insisted they did lose to a great team in Spain and claimed therefore they had lost to the best team in the competition. He added: “When it comes to our supporters, we were the favourites when we started the WC, the individual players, the group we have, some players who weren’t selected.‌“I believe worldwide many fans believe we could have built two or three teams at this WC and still deliver great performances.“We lost against Spain who are the European champion. They have great players and a great team strength. We are disappointed but we lost to a great team.“They might be crowned a World Cup winner. Therefore we can say we lost to the best. I don’t know why said we would win it. We know it’s not that easy.”Article continues belowJoin our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.Content cannot be displayed without consent