Saturday evening in Miami (United States), the Blues meet England for third place in the World Cup. A meeting that few players dream of playing after the bitterness of elimination in the semi-final. But a match which will allow certain players little used during the tournament to set foot on the pitch and the winner to leave the United States with a bronze medal.
It was only in 1934, in Italy, that Fifa introduced this meeting between the beaten semi-finals. The idea is to designate a real third, rather than relying on indirect criteria, and offer a high-stakes match in a city which does not have the chance to host the final. The formula is established lastingly, with one exception: in 1950, in Brazil, a particular format in pools excluded it from the program. Since then, it has never disappeared from the World Cup, when, conversely, UEFA chose to remove it from the Euro from 1980.
The first small final played by the French remains the most brilliant. In 1958, in Sweden, the Blues played their very first World Cup semi-final. They are dominated by Pelé’s Brazil, author of a hat-trick (5-2). It then remains to face West Germany, defending champion, for the bronze medal. In Gothenburg, striker Just Fontaine, already the author of a goal in each match of the tournament, alone scored four of the six French goals in a match won 6-3 by France. His total rose to 13 goals in the competition: a record never equaled since. France is on the podium of a World Cup for the first time.
Revenge of the Substitutes
Twenty-four years later, in 1982, in Spain, the Blues experienced one of the most dramatic semi-finals in the history of football: against West Germany, in Seville, they lost on penalties after a match of rare violence, marked by the attack of German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher on French defender Patrick Battiston, who was taken out on a stretcher.
Two days later, in Alicante, the team must face Poland for third place. But the heads remained in Seville. Coach Michel Hidalgo fielded a largely overhauled team, and the Blues lost 3-2. Midfielder Alain Giresse later summed up the group’s state of mind: “We were inert, in a daze. »
Four years later, in Mexico, history seems to be repeating itself. The Blues, led by Michel Platini, fell once again in the semi-final against West Germany (2-0). For the small final against Belgium, coach Henri Michel made the same choice as Hidalgo four years earlier: a reshuffled team, where the substitutes little used until then can finally set foot on the World Cup pitch.
This time, the strategy pays off. Trailing after a goal from Belgian Jan Ceulemans, the French reversed the situation before being caught at the end of the match and going into overtime. Two goals, signed Bernard Genghini and Manuel Amoros, finally gave victory (4-2) and a bronze medal to a team nicknamed the “hairdressers”. Michel Platini, left on the bench, watches the scene from the sidelines.
A magnifying mirror of tournament emotions
Beyond the French case, the small finale has often acted as a revealer. For example, it allowed several players to win the title of top scorer in the World Cup at the very end of the competition, such as the Brazilian Leônidas in 1938 or the Croatian Davor Suker in 1998. Conversely, it sometimes prolonged a trauma. Brazil in 2014, unable to recover from its nightmarish semi-final against Germany (1-7), also lost the match for third place, against the Netherlands.
Even today, the small final continues to divide, and the players often would have done without it. But Fifa maintains it, to establish a complete ranking of the tournament and to offer a prestigious poster the day before the final, in a stadium which does not host the summit of the competition. To the delight of broadcasters and sponsors. Over the last ten editions, these small finals, considered minor, have even produced more goals than the finals themselves.
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