Thomas Tuchel says it is ‘very unlikely that Bukayo Saka starts and finishes all the matches’. Photograph: Chris Arjoon/Shutterstock
Bukayo Saka is playing through the pain barrier, according to England manager Thomas Tuchel, as the World Cup kick-off looms. The Arsenal forward is still struggling with an achilles injury, and Tuchel has indicated that the winger must be managed carefully throughout the tournament.
Saka joined up with the England squad in West Palm Beach on Saturday after being given an extra week off following his involvement in the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain. Tuchel also gave similar breaks to his other Arsenal players Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze, and Noni Madueke.
While Tuchel confirmed that Rice, Eze, and Madueke are at 100% fitness, the situation for Saka is less encouraging. The winger was substituted in the 83rd minute of the Champions League final, which Arsenal lost on penalties. It would normally be unthinkable for Saka not to play all of such a showpiece.
Tuchel had previously mentioned in March, after Saka and Rice were forced to withdraw from a friendly against Japan, that they were pushing through at 70% and had been feeling discomfort for “quite a while”. While Rice has now recovered, Saka continues to struggle.
“Declan is on 100% and Bukayo is still getting there, playing through discomfort at the end of the season … obviously managing it and playing at a high level but still not on his 100%,” Tuchel said. “He is the one we are building and taking care of in training. Declan is 100%, Ebs is 100%, Noni is 100%.
“Bukayo is just not there yet. Some things are missing … consecutive trainings. They took very good care of him [at Arsenal] and were very aware of it and we will do a little bit the same. He is at the moment not able to do every training session through the week and then play. He is still going to be managed.
“Arsenal brought him back [at the end of April] and he was straight away decisive. And then they decided together – Bukayo and Arsenal – to let him play through his pain and discomfort, even if it was not possible to train the whole week in the buildups. I think it is very unlikely Bukayo starts and finishes all the matches from now on.”
Tuchel noted that Morgan Rogers and Marcus Rashford could play on the right wing, but Madueke is his only other pure option in that position. “Clarity is the most important thing … players know where they can compete,” he added. “We will hopefully not have a lot of experiments in the tournament.”
England play Costa Rica in their second and final warm-up game in Orlando on Wednesday and kick off their World Cup against Croatia in Dallas next Wednesday. Tuchel has several major decisions to make for his starting XI, arguably none bigger than whether to start Rogers or Jude Bellingham in the No 10 role. However, Tuchel is keen for the public to stop obsessing about whether Bellingham starts.
“We have a lot of proof we can win football matches without Jude and that’s the more important headline,” Tuchel said. “Jude is with us. Jude is in amazing form but we have to stop talking about individuals. Jude will not win this World Cup alone. It’s simply impossible. No one will win this World Cup alone. We win it as a team.
“I will not play this game. You [in the media] can play this game. We have Harry [Kane], we have Declan, we have Jude, we have Morgan, we have Bukayo Saka. We have big, big players and some of them will be on the bench.
“It is a long tournament and the guys we pick tomorrow [against Costa Rica], the guys we pick against Croatia are not necessarily the guys that we pick in all the games.
“They need to understand that not all of them will start all of the time at the same time. They can play decisive roles when they finish the matches. They can still be upset with my decision, angry and not aligned with my decision but they have to accept it and then push their teammates.”
England beat New Zealand 1-0 in Tampa in their first warm-up friendly on Saturday in what was a glorified training exercise, with Tuchel fielding different XIs in each half. He will give certain players 60-70 minutes against Costa Rica, offering clues about his starting lineup for Croatia.
However, the Costa Rica game may not provide the challenge Tuchel originally anticipated. The central American nation sacked manager Miguel Herrera last November after failing to qualify for the World Cup and replaced him in March with Fernando Batista, who is overseeing a transitional phase and is expected to field several development players against England.
“The idea was that we play against a back four [in the New Zealand game] and a back five [against Costa Rica],” Tuchel said. “But the coach changed in November and [the new man] doesn’t play with a back five any more. So, welcome to reality! But we have to adapt. We need to take the next step from the match against New Zealand, which was what it was, and now I definitely expect a development in every category of the match up front.”
