With thousands of tickets still unsold for Saturday's World Cup bronze medal match between England and France, the fixture is already overshadowed by a public call for one of England's players to refuse to play.
As of Friday at 10:00 BST, around 7,000 tickets remain listed on Fifa's ticket sites for the game in Miami, including 1,246 on general sale at prices up to $1,125 (£855) and a further 5,864 on the official resale platform. Even category one tickets have been heavily discounted, with one originally priced at $1,125 now available for $659 (£500). The World Cup final on Sunday is also not fully sold out, with expensive standard tickets still on sale for up to $32,970 (£25,057), while the priciest resale ticket is listed at $2m (£1.52m) plus Fifa's fee.
“Kobbie Mainoo urged to boycott England vs France as 7,000 tickets remain unsold.”
Into that uneasy atmosphere steps Manchester United hero Nicky Butt, who has urged 21-year-old Kobbie Mainoo to boycott the match entirely. Mainoo, one of only two outfield players yet to feature at the tournament, has been an unused substitute in all seven of England's games. Thomas Tuchel is expected to make numerous changes for the bronze match, potentially handing Mainoo his World Cup debut — but Butt believes the opportunity should be rejected.
“I do not know what is going on there, there’s something not quite right with it,” Butt said. “Now they’re going to play the bomb squad in the stupid third-place game. I’d just refuse to play if I was Kobbie Mainoo. I’d say I was injured. It’s a nonsense game, especially when you’ve been treated like that. He’s not played a minute of football, now to go and start this pointless jumped-up friendly and potentially get injured for the whole season… no.”
Butt's anger extends beyond Mainoo's treatment. He believes Tuchel should be sacked after England's semi-final defeat to Argentina, calling the German's football “crazy negative” and saying the manager “can’t stay on. Not a cat in hell’s chance after that.” He named Eddie Howe and Mauricio Pochettino as potential successors.
Saturday's match will be officiated by a Venezuelan referee familiar to both sides from previous World Cups. The identity of the official has not been disclosed in the available sources, but the Standard described him as a “familiar face” who has previously refereed England and France at a World Cup.
With tickets going begging and a senior figure urging a player to stay away, England's bronze medal match risks becoming a footnote — or a flashpoint.
