Ibrahima Konate left looking foolish after England warning turns into nightmare
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As the World Cup entered the final two matches of the tournament, Ibrahima Konate endured a nightmare for France in the Bronze Final match against England.Ibrahima Konate endured a difficult half for France against England(Image: (Photo by Johnny Fidelin/Icon Sport via Getty Images))Ibrahima Konate's World Cup campaign turned from bad to worse with France, as the former Liverpool star's comments came back to haunt him in a frustrating clash in Miami.Les Bleus were forced to partake in the Bronze Final match, the third-place play-off that decides which of the defeated semi-finalists would pick up the bronze medal, with England standing in their way.Considering the fact that both teams wanted to be in Sunday's World Cup final instead, the penultimate match is often viewed as a far-from-ideal clash where players look to avoid injury instead of pushing for the win.That is often the cue for managers to make changes, and Didier Deschamps did just that, handing Konate his first start of the competition after receiving just one appearance from the bench before that.The former Liverpool man had discussed before the game his desire for France to win, sending a clear warning to England in the process.He claimed: "I believe as French players, for this team, many players would have loved to compete and played 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.”However, those comments from Konate didn't match the performance from him or his team in the first half of the clash between France and England.Konate has endured a difficult World Cup with France this summerLes Bleus' defense was left wide open time and again, with four goals conceded in a half as the defenders were left scrambling all over the place to gain some semblance of control.Deschamps, who took charge of what is expected to be his final match in charge of France, appeared unhappy with the chaos that was playing out in front of him and showed as much at half-time.The head coach made four changes at the break, which included hooking off Konate in favor of Dayot Upamecano in search of more control.France instantly looked much more like themselves after the break, as the team pushed on to get back into the clash with England, leaving the former Liverpool man looking a little foolish in the process.