England manager Thomas Tuchel don reveal say Bukayo Saka still dey struggle with achilles injury as World Cup dey approach. The Arsenal winger join England camp for West Palm Beach on Saturday after extra week off because of Champions League final against PSG.
Tuchel give same break to Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke. But while Tuchel talk say those three dey 100% fit, Saka no reach there. For Champions League final, Saka bin come off for 83rd minute as Arsenal lose on penalties. Normally no be Saka style to miss any minute for big match like that.
Tuchel bin yarn for March say Saka and Rice dey push through at 70% and don feel discomfort for “quite a while”. Now Rice don better, but Saka still dey 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 talk. “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.”
Tuchel add say Arsenal bin take good care of Saka and dem go do similar thing. “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.”
According to Tuchel, Arsenal bring Saka back for end of April and he immediately dey 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 mention say Morgan Rogers and Marcus Rashford fit play for right wing but Madueke be only pure option for that position. “Clarity is the most important thing… players know where they can compete,” Tuchel add. “We will hopefully not have a lot of experiments in the tournament.”
England go play Costa Rica for Orlando on Wednesday for second and final warm-up game before dem kick off World Cup against Croatia for Dallas next Wednesday. Tuchel get plenty major decisions to make for starting XI, including whether to start Rogers or Jude Bellingham for No 10 role. Tuchel dey vex say public dey obsess about Bellingham starting.
“We have a lot of proof we can win football matches without Jude and that’s the more important headline,” Tuchel talk. “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 for Tampa for first warm-up friendly on Saturday. Tuchel field different XIs for each half. He go give certain players 60-70 minutes against Costa Rica and that fit show clues about starting lineup for Croatia. But Costa Rica game no go give Tuchel the challenge he bin expect. The central American nation sack coach Miguel Herrera last November after dem fail to qualify for World Cup and replace am for March with Fernando Batista, wey dey oversee transition. He go play 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 talk. “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.”
