England took first step towards elite nations with win over France: Thomas Tuchel

MIAMI – Thomas Tuchel said England had taken their first step in closing the gap to the top football nations after edging a 10-goal thriller against France to finish third at the 2026 World Cup.

Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick in an entertaining 6-4 win in the heat of Miami, while France’s Kylian Mbappe became the leading scorer in the tournament’s history with 22 goals in 22 matches by netting twice.

England’s other goals came via Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and Jude Bellingham. Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele also scored for France.

Manager Tuchel spoke on the eve of the match about the pain of the Three Lions’ 2-1 semi-final defeat by Argentina on July 15, stressing the need to close the gap to the defending champions as well as France and Spain.

The German, who has faced a torrent of criticism from the English media over his cautious tactics in the Argentina defeat, said England had made progress with their win against France.

“We have the ability to close it, but they have the ability to open it up again,” he told the BBC.

“Eight 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.

“I 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.

“To 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.”

Tuchel, 52, said he hoped his players would one day look back on finishing third at the World Cup with some pride, despite falling short of their goal of winning the tournament.

The win at Hard Rock Stadium secured England their best finish at a World Cup since their only triumph when they hosted the tournament in 1966.

“It’s the first medal for 60 years, the best World Cup on foreign soil. So I hope that the players can be proud of that in some time,” he told reporters.

“We are fiercely competitive, so like we almost don’t allow ourselves to be proud of the third place because 18 months ago we set ourselves the highest goal... to make it to the final and win the World Cup.

“So it’s very, very painful if you miss out. The pain will stay for a while.”

Rice seemed to agree, saying: “This is the best England group for a very long time. That’s a fact. No one can take that away from us.

“To come third in this tournament is a real achievement... I think we need to keep going. I do think it’s close. It’s a game of small margins.”

His Arsenal teammate Saka’s hat-trick inevitably raised a question about why the winger was not played in the semi-final.

“It was a tough decision for me to leave him out of the semi-final,” said Tuchel, who admitted he had been cautious with Saka because of the Achilles injury he had been managing for the last few months.

“I had the feeling that Morgan Rogers had something special to give to us with his physicality and his body in the match against Argentina.

“We had (Saka) warm up several times against Argentina. We were ready to change, but the game became so crazy that we in the end opted for a different option.

“But nothing has changed during the World Cup for me. Bukayo is a fantastic teammate, fantastic football player, key player for us, and that will not change. He showed it again today and I'm happy for him.”

Asked about the same issue, the 24-year-old Saka told the BBC: “Of course, I would love to have played more but it’s too late to talk about that. I try to do my talking on the pitch and it’s done now – move on. I’m fit.” AFP, REUTERS