Neither France nor England are approaching Saturday's World Cup third-place playoff with much enthusiasm, with both camps admitting they would rather have been preparing for the final than competing for the bronze medal in Miami.
France were knocked out by Spain in the semi-finals, while England suffered a dramatic late defeat to Argentina, leaving the two European sides to contest the tournament's third-place match.
Deschamps: "The best thing would be for this match not to exist"
France head coach Didier Deschamps, who will oversee his final match in charge of Les Bleus, acknowledged that neither team wanted to be playing in the fixture.
"The best thing for France and England would be for this match not to exist," Deschamps said during his final pre-match press conference.
Despite his personal feelings, Deschamps stressed that his team still had a responsibility to finish the tournament on a positive note.
"I have a duty for this game. It is not a friendly. It is a third-place playoff. The players, the staff and I have the duty to reach this last objective. It is less important than the final. England does not want to play this game, and neither do we. But here we are."
"We have to set our eyes on that goal to be third and make this final objective a reality. We have this duty when wearing this jersey. In my head I know that it is my last match. I don't want anybody to cry. The end is near but life goes on," he added.
Players eager to give Deschamps a winning farewell
France defender Ibrahima Konate echoed his coach's sentiments, admitting that the squad had no desire to be playing for third place but remained determined to give Deschamps a victorious farewell.
"None of us wanted to play for this third place but we have no choice," Konate said.
"We want to pay back our coach. He did so much for the France team. We must be grateful to him for that and we need to do everything we can to win this game... to get this chocolate medal, this bronze medal," he added.
Tuchel: Nobody wants to be here
England manager Thomas Tuchel was equally candid, saying his side would much rather have been preparing for Sunday's final in New York.
"Nobody wants to be in this game tomorrow," Tuchel said.
"All of these four teams wanted to be in New York, but it is an official World Cup game."
He nevertheless described the fixture as an important opportunity for England to demonstrate the progress made during the tournament and to measure themselves against one of the world's strongest teams.
"It is a big game against one of the very best teams in the world. It's a moment to show that we are actually made of what we showed through the whole tournament. There is no doubt about that," he said.
Tuchel also indicated that England could make several changes to the starting lineup for Saturday's third-place playoff in Miami.
