Tuchel holds Saka back for England's Panama game
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- Tuchel said Bukayo Saka is unlikely to start for England until the final World Cup group game against Panama, with the FA medical team managing the winger's Achilles problem minute by minute.
- Saka came off the bench in the 72nd minute of England's 4-2 win over Croatia on Monday, having been hampered by the Achilles issue for the last two months of Arsenal's Premier League-winning campaign.
- Noni Madueke is likely to keep his place on the right wing after a World Cup debut against Croatia in which he won the penalty for England's opening goal and created several further chances, described by Tuchel as one of England's brightest attacking threats.
- Marcus Rashford also impressed off the bench against Croatia, replacing Antony Gordon and scoring England's fourth goal — leaving Tuchel with what he called genuine selection dilemmas across all four wingers.
- England racked up 22 shots against Croatia — half of them on target — and 36 touches in the opposition box, more than double their opponents' count, validating Tuchel's pledge to take the 'handbrake off'.
- Tuchel told his players the public would love England's second-half display, saying: "the people in the pubs they will like this," as Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham joined fans in singing Oasis' Wonderwall on the pitch after the final whistle.
Why it matters: Tuchel is holding Saka back through the first two group games so he's sharp from Panama onward, while Madueke, Rashford and Saka compete for wing spots on form rather than reputation — a meritocratic rotation few England managers have embraced. The 22-shot, 36-box-touch Croatia performance suggests Tuchel's front-foot identity is already taking hold ahead of a tournament where attacking fluency, not caution, has been the explicit brief.
