Bukayo Saka has admitted England’s World Cup semi-final defeat was tough to take, but they plan to use it as fuel at the next tournament.
England suffered elimination from the World Cup at the semi-final stage last week, but they bounced back to win the third-place play-off on Saturday, with Arsenal’s internationals playing a major role.
With William Saliba not selected due to his ongoing injury issues, Eberechi Eze provided an assist, Declan Rice bagged a goal and an assist, and Bukayo Saka netted a hat-trick in a 6-4 victory.
Speaking afterwards, Saka denied that the third-place play-off victory would help with the pain of the semi-final defeat, but he added that England will be ready to use the setback as fuel for next time.
“I don’t think anything can lessen the pain that we felt from the other night,” Saka insisted. “That one really hurt us, I’ll be honest.
“But this 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).
“When we go to the next major tournament, this will definitely be fuel for us. We’ll be back next tournament to try to get over the line.”
On an individual note, the 2026 World Cup was another positive one for Saka.
Given he didn’t feature in the semi-final, England were unbeaten when Saka made an appearance, and he finished the tournament with three goals and three assists in his seven games.
Add that to the three goals he scored in the 2022 World Cup, and Saka now has nine direct goal contributions in 11 games, an average of one every 72 minutes.
England’s next major tournament will be the 2028 European Championships, hosted in the United Kingdom and Ireland, offering the chance to lift the trophy on home turf. As for the next World Cup, that will be in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain in 2030.
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