Thomas Tuchel has dropped Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham to the bench for England's World Cup third-place match against France on Saturday. The decision comes despite both players being among the tournament's top scorers, with six goals each, and still in contention for the Golden Boot.
Tuchel explains the decision
Speaking ahead of the match, Tuchel said: 'It's just common sense. 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.'
He added: '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.'
England's starting lineup
In their absence, Ivan Toney starts up front, with Morgan Rogers in the No. 10 role. The full England lineup is: D. Henderson; Quansah, Konsa, Guehi, Spence; Rice, Eze; Saka, Rogers, Rashford; Toney. Substitutes include Pickford, O'Reilly, Stones, Anderson, Kane, Bellingham, Chalobah, J. Henderson, Burn, Gordon, Watkins, Madueke, Trafford, and James.
France lineup and Golden Boot race
France, who were knocked out in the semi-finals, field a strong side with Mbappe, Olise, and Cherki. The Golden Boot standings show Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe tied on eight goals, followed by Erling Haaland on seven, while Bellingham and Kane have six each.
Tuchel on closing the gap
Tuchel also sees the third-place match as an opportunity to close the gap on top teams. '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,' he 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.'
