Thomas Tuchel has defended his decision to field Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka in England's World Cup third-place match against France on Saturday, despite both players carrying injuries and Rice playing his 69th game of the season.
Seven changes from semi-final defeat
Tuchel made seven changes from the team that lost 2-1 to Argentina in the semi-final on Wednesday. Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham were among those dropped to the bench, but Rice retained his place in midfield and captained the side, while Saka earned his third start of the tournament.
Rice has been suffering from a hamstring injury since Christmas, and Saka has been nursing an Achilles problem throughout the World Cup, missing the semi-final entirely. Asked before kick-off if he had any concerns over their fitness, 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.'
Kane and Bellingham rested
Tuchel explained why Kane and Bellingham were benched: '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. 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.'
Chance to close the gap on France
Tuchel also believes the match is an opportunity to 'close the gap' on France, who were considered tournament favourites. '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 and compete and try to get that win because it's an important one for us.'
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.
