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  "path": "/2026/06/17/bukayo-saka-marcus-rashford-bench-england-croatia-28811706/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-17T18:43:21.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "Football",
    "Sport",
    "Anthony Gordon",
    "Bukayo Saka",
    "England men's football team",
    "Marcus Rashford",
    "Noni Madueke",
    "Thomas Tuchel",
    "World Cup",
    "an Achilles injury that saw him miss five games for Arsenal in April",
    "Premier League",
    "Sign up here",
    "Saka this week insisted he feels fully fit",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
  ],
  "textContent": "Rashford and Saka do not start for England this evening (Picture: FA via Getty Images)\n\nBukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford have been named on the bench for England’s World Cup opener against Croatia tonight.\n\nThe Three Lions open their Group L campaign against the side that beat them in the semi-final stages of the tournament eight years ago.\n\nSaka is England’s first-choice right winger but club teammate Noni Madueke starts ahead of him this evening.\n\nThe Gunners star has been nursing an Achilles injury that saw him miss five games for Arsenal in April – returning in time to have an important role to play in their Premier League title triumph.\n\n##  Don't miss anything from the World Cup\n\nStill got it (Picture: MB Media/Getty Images)\n\n\nA Lionel Messi hattrick. A Kylian Mbappe screamer. Erling Haaland's first World Cup goals. We've got it all in today's World Cup newsletter. Oh, and we're looking ahead to England's crucial opener against Croatia.\n\nSign up here.\n\nLast week, Thomas Tuchel admitted Saka was still some way off from ‘reaching 100 per cent’, unable to train on consecutive days with England’s medical staff carefully monitoring his situation.\n\nSaka this week insisted he feels fully fit, ‘feeling better than I’ve felt in the last few months and I’m ready to go’. But Tuchel has made the decision to leave him on the bench tonight.\n\nRashford has also been left out of the starting XI with Anthony Gordon starting ahead of him.\n\nGordon and Madueke start in wide roles (Picture: Getty Images)\n\nAfter a fine season on loan at Barcelona, Rashford forced his way back into Tuchel’s plans and started England’s first warm-up match against New Zealand.\n\nGordon impressed in the game against Costa Rica with Tuchel valuing his intensity and positional discipline on the left.\n\nThe newly-signed Barcelona star – a development that has placed Rashford’s own club future in limbo – has done enough to get the nod with Rashford hoping there will be a role for him to play off the bench tonight.\n\nTino Livramento is no longer with the squad after suffering an injury that ended his World Cup hopes this week.\n\nThe Newcastle United star will have no role to play with Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah called into replace him on Tuesday.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Why Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford are on the bench for England against Croatia"
}