Bukayo Saka says painful World Cup exit will fuel England for next challenge
England lost to Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals, but managed a third-place finish after beating France.
Bukayo Saka says the “pain” of their World Cup semi-final defeat will fuel England as they attempt to finally end the nation’s long wait for a trophy.
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The Arsenal winger scored a stunning hat-trick in Saturday night’s remarkable 6-4 bronze-medal match victory over France in Miami, which ensured he and his team-mates will return home with something tangible to show for their hard work.
However, the 24-year-old will do so admitting the memories of Wednesday night’s semi-final exit at the hands of Argentina will simply increase his determination to succeed.
Saka told reporters: “Looking back at it when we go to the next major tournament, this will definitely be fuel for us. It’s very tough to take, but we did show and we believe – and I feel that we made the country believe as well – that we could do it.
“That belief hasn’t left us. We’ll be back next tournament to try to get over the line.”
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The fact that England managed to regroup and get the better of Didier Deschamps’ men in a madcap game in Miami four days after their hopes of winning the World Cup were dashed by Lionel Messi and company is worthy of praise after a bruising post-mortem.
Saka said: “I don’t think anything can lessen the pain that we felt from the other night. That one really hurt us, I’ll be honest.
“But today was just about being professional and finishing strongly. This group has got that togetherness, we’ve got that mentality – that’s never been a problem for us – and we showed that today, so we can be proud of ourselves to achieve that highest finish that England has seen (since 1966).”
Saka became just the fourth Englishman to score a hat-trick at the World Cup finals when he converted an 87th-minute spot-kick to hold off a French fightback, and that too was a source of pride.
He said: “As a collective, this is what we discussed. We deserve to finish strongly for the tournament that we’ve had, we deserve to finish in the highest position that England has seen for 60 years.
“This group deserves nothing less and that was the mentality, and you saw that in the first half. We played a perfect first half and ultimately that won us the game.
“On a personal level as well, I’ve worked so hard to try to get myself ready for this tournament and be available to produce moments like that, and for me, it’s an incredible achievement.
“There are only three other Englishmen to have done it, so it’s a nice record to have now and I’m proud of myself to achieve that.”
Tottenham defender Djed Spence, who revealed he and his team-mates had shut out the “outside noise” in the wake of their semi-final defeat, backed head coach Thomas Tuchel to get it right.
He said: “He’s a great manager and we’ve built something special. It wasn’t what we wanted, but it’s stepping stones and it’s the best we’ve finished since 1966, so it’s a step in the right direction.
“Hopefully in the next tournament we can bring something home.”