{"id":557306,"date":"2026-07-19T10:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T10:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/557306\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T10:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T10:34:10","slug":"england-tuchel-makes-stunning-admission-about-saka-after-france-win-i-was-not-even-aware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/557306\/","title":{"rendered":"England: Tuchel makes stunning admission about Saka after France win \u2013 \u2018I was not even aware\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

England manager Thomas Tuchel has reacted to comments from Arsenal<\/a> winger Bukayo Saka that he was fit to play a bigger role for the Three Lions at the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n

Saka<\/a> scored a hat-trick for England, as Tuchel\u2019s side beat France 6-4 in the third-place playoff<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Arsenal<\/a> winger scored twice in the first half and completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 87th minute.<\/p>\n

The 6-4 win for England against France at the Miami Stadium will do little to cheer up the Three Lions\u2019 fans, though.<\/p>\n

England lost 2-1 to Argentina in the semi-finals despite taking the lead, as Tuchel<\/a> decided to sit back and try to soak up the pressure.<\/p>\n

Saka, who is one of the best wingers in the Premier League, did not feature at all in the semi-final against Argentina.<\/p>\n

READ: England take bronze over feckless France amid 10-goal nonsense<\/a><\/p>\n

The 24-year-old made three starts and four substitute appearances for England<\/a> at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Saka scored three goals and gave three assists in those games.<\/p>\n

Bukayo Saka wanted to play more for England<\/p>\n

After the match against France, Saka said that he wanted to play more for England at the World Cup and was fully fit.<\/p>\n

The winger told BBC Sport: \u201cOf course, I would love to have played more.<\/p>\n

But of course, it\u2019s not the time to talk about that now.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Tuchel has no regrets over England semi-final decisions as Trump jokes about Kane role<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI try to do my talking on the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s done now. Move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if it\u2019s good news for Arsenal fans to see him playing and scoring like this, Saka said: \u201cYeah. I\u2019m fit. I\u2019m fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuchel was asked why he did not use Saka against Argentina<\/a>, as the Arsenal star shone against France.<\/p>\n

The England manager gave his reasons and then stunningly remarked that he did not even realise that Saka had scored a hat-trick against France.<\/p>\n

Thomas Tuchel explains Bukayo Saka decision<\/p>\n

Tuchel said: \u201cHe did everything right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had just a feeling in the semi-final for Morgan Rogers that he would be involved in something special. That was it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [Argentina] game 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not even aware he had a hat-trick [against France].<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost the overview of the goalscorers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalist Henry Winter has relayed further quotes from Tuchel on Saka on his X account.<\/p>\n

The German boss said: \u201cBukayo is a fantastic footballer, a key player for us, and he showed it again today.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was excellent. He was ready to go in the World Cup, but I still felt a responsibility to take it slow with Bukayo (after injury).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe started some matches. It was a tough decision to leave him out of the semi-final.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt with Norway (win in quarters) that Morgan Rogers showed he was special with his physicality and his body.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had him (Saka) warmed up several times (against Argentina).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were ready to change but situations meant\u2026 (they had to make other changes).\u201d<\/p>\n

England are coming back home with a bronze medal from the 2026 World Cup and their best finish since 1966, when they won the trophy.<\/p>\n

Declan Rice was a key figure for England at the World Cup, and the Arsenal midfielder believes that the Three Lions should be proud of their achievement.<\/p>\n

Rice said: \u201cThis is the best England group for a very long time. That\u2019s a fact. No one can take that away from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former West Ham United star added: \u201cI think we can be proud as a group \u2013 we are just gutted we lost in that semi-final.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re tired of saying we\u2019re proud of coming in semi-finals and quarter-finals \u2013 we want to win with England ultimately.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to come third in this tournament is a real achievement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so close, honestly. There\u2019s been so much talk about this group over the last few years going out of tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been semi-final exits, quarter-finals, finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to keep going. I do think it\u2019s close. It\u2019s a game of small margins. It\u2019s football and the other night we lost on margins and in the boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Thomas Tuchel sack: Pundits round on England boss after too little, too late France epic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England manager Thomas Tuchel has reacted to comments from Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka that he was fit to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[15133,152204,5040,914,42,1100,43,1102,5041,40,38,41,39,4018],"class_list":["post-557306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-arsenal","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-england","tag-front-page","tag-headlines","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-premier-league","tag-thomas-tuchel","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}