France vs. England World Cup prediction: Odds, picks, best bets for third-place match
Territory, sovereignty and royal succession: the French and English have battled over some of history’s highest stakes.You can add a bronze medal to that list on Saturday.The World Cup’s consolation prize is not what many expected France to be playing for when they opened as tournament favorites wielding soccer’s biggest game breaker.But alas, Lionel Messi is not ready to cede that claim to Kylian Mbappé. That was crystal clear when Messi engineered a fourth consecutive knockout-round comeback against England by assisting the equalizer in the 85th minute before setting up Lautaro Martínez’s stoppage-time winner to propel Argentina back into the final to defend their title.With that pair of assists, he leapfrogged Mbappé as the new odds-on favorite in the Golden Boot odds market — even though they remain tied with eight goals apiece.
Mbappé, who has scored at least one goal in five of seven games, remains within reach for the award.A goal or two assists against England would put him in position to win, provided Messi fails to produce anything in the final.The only two matches in which Mbappé failed to find the scoresheet came against Spain — a result that can be excused against the tournament’s most dominant possession side — and Norway.
Even without a goal from their superstar, France’s depth carried the load, as his teammates responded with a 4-1 demolition of the Norwegians.That depth makes the French a heavy favorite over the English in bookmakers’ view: Les Bleus are -215 to win the match and still juiced to -110 to do so in 90 minutes. After five weeks of demanding tournament soccer, fresh legs are going to be critical, and France’s replacements boast the international edge in Rayan Cherki, N’Golo Kante, Ibrahima Konate and Warren Zaire-Emery. The contrast in emotional momentum is heavy.It’ll be tough for The Three Lions to pull their morale out from the dumps after letting the semifinal slip through their fingers.
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