Defiant Tuchel hopes Three Lions will look back with pride

England manager Thomas Tuchel said he hoped his players would one day look back on finishing third at the World Cup with some pride, despite falling short of their goal of winning the tournament.

The German, who has faced a torrent of criticism from the English media over his cautious tactics in the Argentina defeat, said England had made progress with its win against France.

"Eight years ago they (France) were the champions. Four years ago they were in the final. There is a slight gap, but no problem. We want to close it," he told the BBC.

"I said yesterday that today is the first step to closing it. We did it. We beat them. The next one will be Spain in the Nations League.

"To see a team fight like this gives you energy. The tiredness will come after. We will still feel the pain when tomorrow is the final. This will take a while, but overall it gives me more energy than it takes from me."

A 6-4 win over France in a frenetic third-place playoff at Miami Stadium on Saturday gave England its best finish at a World Cup since its only triumph when it hosted the tournament in 1966.

"It's the first medal for 60 years, the best World Cup on foreign soil. So, I hope that the players can be proud of that in some time," he told reporters.

"We are fiercely competitive, so we almost don't allow ourselves to be proud of the third place, because 18 months ago we set ourselves the highest goal ... to make it to the final and win the World Cup. So, it's very, very painful if you miss out. The pain will stay for a while."

Tuchel came in for heavy flak after England lost 2-1 to Argentina in the semifinals on Wednesday, particularly because of what were viewed as his defensive tactics after his side took the lead early in the second half.

"The news conference yesterday felt as if we went out in the group stage without a win, to be very honest," the German said.

"The best thing you can do is to react on the pitch and get the next win. Everything else is just talking, and talking doesn't get you points, and talking doesn't get you a win.

"I'm glad that we showed a reaction. We wanted that reaction, and it's very impressive."

Bukayo Saka's hat-trick for England on Saturday inevitably raised a question about why the right winger was not played in the semifinal loss to Argentina.

"It was a tough decision for me to leave him out of the semifinal," said Tuchel, who admitted he had been cautious with Saka because of the Achilles injury he had been managing for the last few months.

"I had the feeling that Morgan Rogers had something special to give us with his physicality and his body in the match against Argentina.

"We had (Saka) warm up several times against Argentina. We were ready to change, but the game became so crazy that, in the end, we opted for a different option.

"But nothing has changed during the World Cup for me. Bukayo is a fantastic teammate, fantastic football player, key player for us, and that will not change. He showed it again today and I'm happy for him."