Thomas Tuchel has defended his decision to play Arsenal due Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka in England’s World Cup third-place match against France on Saturday.
Tuchel has made seven changes from the team that started in the 2-1 semi-final defeat to Argentina on Wednesday with Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham among the players who have dropped to the bench.
However, Rice keeps his place in England’s midfield and captains the side, while Saka has been given his third start of the tournament.
The match will be Rice’s 69th game of the season and the Arsenal midfielder has been suffering from a hamstring injury since Christmas.
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Saka, meanwhile, has been nursing an Achilles problem throughout the World Cup and did not play a minute of the semi-final against Argentina
Asked before kick-off if he had any concerns over the fitness of Rice and Saka, Tuchel replied: ‘No, never because Declan gets more and more fit, he gets his fitness back and his health back.
‘And for Bukayo there’s no concerns. He didn’t start, he didn’t play in the semi-finals. He’s a key player for us and ready to go.’
England vs France confirmed line-ups
England: D. Henderson; Quansah, Konsa, Guehi, Spence; Rice, Eze; Saka, Rogers, Rashford; Toney
Subs: Pickford, O’Reilly, Stones, Anderson, Kane, Bellingham, Chalobah, J. Henderson, Burn, Gordon, Watkins, Madueke, Trafford, James
France: Maignan; T. Hernández, Lacroix, Konate, Gusto; Rabiot, Zaïre-Emery, Doue; Cherki, Olise, Mbappe
Subs: Akliouche, Barcola, Dembele, Digne, L. Hernandez, Kante, Kone, Kounde, Mateta, Risser, Saliba, Samba, Tchouameni, Thuram, Upamecano
Tuchel also explained why Kane and Bellingham were dropped to the bench for the game against France, despite both still being in the running to win the World Cup Golden Boot.
‘It’s just common sense,’ Tuchel said.
‘We have so many kilometres in the legs. We have so many travel kilometres in our bones. We have a day less recovery. We come from 10 men in altitude. We come from overtime here in Miami.
‘These two guys, they gave everything physically in every match. They were ready to go again but we keep them and have them to finish the match for us.’
World Cup 2026 Golden Boot standings
Lionel Messi: 8 goals, 4 asissts
Kylian Mbappe: 8 goals, 3 asissts
Erling Haaland: 7 goals, 0 asissts
Jude Bellingham: 6 goals, 1 asissts
Harry Kane: 6 goals, 1 asissts
Ousmane Dembele: 5 goals, 2 asissts
Mikel Oyarzabal: 5 goals, 1 asissts
Tuchel also believes the game against France is a chance for England to ‘close the gap’ on a team who were regarded as the favourites to win the World Cup this summer.
‘We have the chance to have the best World Cup finish since 60 years, so it’s quite a big one to play in even if it does not feel like it at all,’ Tuchel said.
‘Until the semi-final I think everyone would agree that France are top favourites in this tournament. They won eight years ago, they were in the final four years ago, they were in the Nations League final. They were on their way to the final and seemed the strongest team in the tournament and in the strongest form and had a total day off in the semi-final and got knocked out.
‘It tells you we’re on the same stage as them, playing for third place, very, very difficult opponent but like I said yesterday we feel that there’s still a slight gap between us and the top three teams. Today we try to close that gap and compete and try to get that win because it’s an important one for us.’
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