who has faced a torrent of criticism from the English media over his cautious tactics in the Argentina defeat<\/a>, said England had made progress with their win against France.<\/p>\n\u201cWe have the ability to close it, but they have the ability to open it up again,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n
England head coach Thomas Tuchel, left, looks on during the medal ceremony during the World Cup third-place playoff soccer match between France and England in Miami Gardens, Fla., Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)Source: AP<\/p>\n
Rice screamer puts England ahead! | 00:24<\/p>\n
\u201cEight years ago they (France) were the champions. Four years ago they were in the final. There is a slight gap, but no problem. We want to close it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said yesterday today is the first step to closing it. We did it. We beat them. The next one will be Spain in the Nations League.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see a team fight like this gives you energy. The tiredness will come after. We will still feel the pain when tomorrow is the final. This will take a while, but overall it gives me more energy than it takes from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not everyone was impressed through with many English journalists and fans taking to social media to wonder where England\u2019s attacking flare had been in the semi-final.<\/p>\n
The Three Lions were rampant in the first half, taking a 4-0 lead into half time with Saka at the forefront, while Marcus Rashford also made several eye catching runs.<\/p>\n
Saka did not even get on the pitch against Argentina and with every goal he scored, the outrage grew that he had been left on the sidelines wearing a substitute’s bib in Atlanta. <\/p>\n
Asked by the BBC after his hat-trick whether he wishes he had played a bigger role in the tournament, the Arsenal winger replied: \u201cOf course, I would love to have played more. But of course, it\u2019s not the time to talk about out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to do my talking on the pitch. It\u2019s done now. Move one,\u201d the 24-year-old added.<\/p>\n
Tuchel\u2019s selections and substitutions were in the gun during the wash-up from the Argentina defeat – where Lionel Messi\u2019s men scored in the 85th and 92nd minutes to snatch victory.<\/p>\n
The German questioned whether England lacked the \u2018DNA\u2019 to hold possession under pressure like Spain and Argentina possess.<\/p>\n
It was an unpopular comment and his explanation as to why he left Saka on the sidelines earlier in the week thrust that idea back into the spotlight.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did everything right. I had just a feeling in the semi-final for Morgan Rogers that he would be involved in something special. That was it,\u201d Tuchel said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe game is in itself was so in demand that we were forced into changes because of cramps and flow of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cBukayo showed he was a key player, that was never a doubt. I was not even aware he had a hat-trick. I lost the overview of the goal scorers.\u201d<\/p>\n
England head coach Thomas Tuchel, left, talks with England’s Bukayo Saka (7) during a hydration break of the World Cup third-place playoff soccer match between France and England in Miami Gardens, Fla., Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo\/Lynne Sladky)Source: AP<\/p>\n
The Telegraph\u2019s Matt Law chose to look at the positives, however, with England holding onto their lead against France despite a big scare inspired by Kylian Mbappe\u2019s brace.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas this evidence of England head coach Thomas Tuchel already learning lessons from the Argentina collapse? Let\u2019s hope so,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith England on the ropes and in danger of throwing away a lead against France, Tuchel resisted the temptation to flood his team with defenders and was rewarded with a World Cup bronze medal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the semi-final loss, Tuchel said he intends to see out his contract until the 2028 Euros, which will be hosted by the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n
The FA have said they want to keep the German on board too despite the animosity towards him following their World Cup exit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England manager Thomas Tuchel said his side had taken their first step in closing the gap on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-809402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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