Tuchel hints Saka may miss England start against Ghana

Thomas Tuchel was preparing to manage Bukayo Saka carefully again, with the England head coach indicating the Arsenal winger was unlikely to start against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday. Tuchel said Saka was not 100% fit and suggested England would build him up gradually, with the wider plan possibly keeping him back until the final group game against Panama.

Saka’s situation has been shaped by an Achilles problem that disrupted the final two months of Arsenal’s season and forced him out of England friendlies in March. He started only five matches in Arsenal’s run-in and completed 90 minutes just once, a clear sign of how closely Arsenal and England have had to monitor his workload as the summer tournament schedule tightened.

Saka still made an impact from the bench in England’s 4-2 win over Croatia on Monday, entering in the 72nd minute and linking with Marcus Rashford for England’s fourth goal. That contribution only sharpened Tuchel’s selection decisions ahead of the Ghana match, especially with England trying to balance immediate results against the risk of overloading one of their most valuable attacking players.

Saka pushed back gently on the caution, saying he was ready to go and that Arsenal and England medical staff had managed him well since March. The difference between Tuchel’s guarded approach and Saka’s willingness to play reflects a familiar tension for elite international teams: the need to chase points without pushing club stars too hard in matches that may not decide the tournament.

Noni Madueke is likely to keep his place on the right wing after winning a penalty against Croatia, while Rashford’s form has added another layer to Tuchel’s choices. Tuchel described the attacking depth as a “selection headache”, and England’s opening victory in World Cup Group L has only raised the stakes around how aggressively he uses Saka, Rashford, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze. For Tuchel, the calculation is no longer only about who starts next. It is about how long England can afford to keep their best players fresh while still winning now.