With the dream of lifting the 2026 World Cup trophy no longer within reach, France are playing England in the third-place match, but Ousmane Dembélé is not in the starting lineup.
The reason Dembélé isn’t starting against England is because Didier Deschamps has made a technical decision to put Desiré Doué and Rayan Cherki in the starting lineup.
This means the ideal trio is not complete in the lineup for the first time in the competition. Leaving the Ballon d’Or winner out may be a decision to give him some rest after an exhausting season with his club.
The attack
Left winger was the position that has changed the most during the competition. Deschamps has rotated Doué and Barcolá depending on the opponent, which also helped keep them rested as they had to make a huge effort, with the other three attackers doing a bit less defensive work.
Doué plays his eighth match (Lars Baron/Getty Images)
The bench has become very important with the introduction of more substitutions, a change that has allowed the best teams to avoid exhausting their most-used players, and this has been reflected in how Deschamps has managed the position.
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For this match, what was a surprise for most was the inclusion of Cherki. The talented player was not a major factor for the team throughout the competition, even though he played in six matches with a total of just 85 minutes.
Dembélé’s performance
Dembélé’s performances went from the best to not as good as the tournament progressed. The winger had a fantastic start, scoring his first goals in a World Cup during his third appearance in the competition with five goals. His goals came against Iraq, a hat trick against Norway and one goal against Morocco.
