Thomas Tuchel believes England are closing the gap on rivals ahead of Spain clash

[p]Had [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/england/j9N9ZNFA/"]England[/a] held out for the final five minutes plus stoppage time against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/argentina/f9OppQjp/"]Argentina[/a] two months ago, they would have met [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/spain/bLyo6mco/"]Spain[/a] in the World Cup final.[/p][p]Instead, Tuchel's men conceded twice after he had attempted to batten down the hatches with a series of defensive substitutions.[/p][p][b]"There's not much sense in torturing ourselves looking back,"[/b] said Tuchel when announcing his squad for four Nations League games over the coming weeks.[/p][p]But the German coach admitted to being left "unfulfilled" by failing to achieve his target of a second star on the England jersey.[/p][embed guid="4eff485a-f195-4f2b-862f-727c4d7150b6" url="https://x.com/England/status/2102794507016425643?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/saka-bukayo/08NLEo06/"]Bukayo Saka[/a] went even further on Wednesday by revealing "there's still a scar in us" over what happened in Atlanta.[/p][p][b]"You try to move on as soon as possible, but you know, a scar is a scar (and) decides to heal when it heals itself,"[/b] added the Arsenal forward.[/p][p]Saka's non-inclusion, even off the bench, during the World Cup semi-final was one of the many reasons to question Tuchel's judgement.[/p][p]Although troubled by fitness concerns during the tournament, just days later Saka scored a hat-trick against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/france/QkGeVG1n/"]France[/a] in a 6-4 victory to secure the consolation of third place.[/p][p]Despite the criticism, Tuchel said his own interactions with supporters since the World Cup have been positive.[/p][h2]'Gap is closing'[/h2][p]A 3-2 victory over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/mexico/O6iHcNkd/"]Mexico[/a] in their own iconic Azteca Stadium will live long in the memory, while England twice came from behind to win knockout matches at a World Cup for the first time since 1966.[/p][p]"Ninety-nine point nine per cent of the fans don't speak about substitutions, tactical twists, and tactical things," the former Chelsea manager added.[/p][p][b]"They speak about where they have watched the Mexico game, they speak about the second half, the energy of the Croatian match, they speak about how nerve-wracking it was to watch our match against Congo, and where they celebrated."[/b][/p][embed guid="b5a16828-834b-4be5-a135-a8e73ae64b4d" url="https://x.com/England/status/2102784246708379783?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/england-j9N9ZNFA/spain-bLyo6mco/?mid=C42ySF3j"]A capacity 90,000 crowd will be in attendance on Saturday[/a] and Tuchel badly needs to give them reason to believe he is the man to finally lead England to a first major tournament win since 1966.[/p][p]A home Euros in two years' time presents a perfect opportunity and potentially a final one for talismanic captain [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kane-harry/v5HSlEAa/"]Harry Kane[/a], who turned 33 earlier this year.[/p][p]Spain's march to glory on the other side of the Atlantic proved they are the standard England must aspire to.[/p][p]Luis de la Fuente's men last lost a competitive game, not including penalty shootouts, three-and-a-half years ago.[/p][p]Tuchel's task is to transform his enthusiasm onto players left physically and emotionally drained from their World Cup experiences.[/p][p]The Nations League will not scratch England's itch to win a major tournament, but it would be a major stepping stone and provide a launchpad towards the Euros.[/p][image alt="Win probability" id="1fcae67d-4ec5-4466-9f1c-747595536848" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="1ba92ac7-b119-4b39-b51c-5db0dc4fea19" original-width="3840" original-height="2160" /][p][b]"We feel the gap is closing and we feel that we are close and we want to prove a point," [/b]said Tuchel.[b] "The stadium is sold out, it will be very exciting, the motivation cannot be higher to play against the world champions."[/b][/p][p]Spain have reached at least the final of the last three editions of the competition, while England have made a semi-final only once and were even relegated to the second tier in the 2022/23 campaign.[/p][p]The sides ranked one and four in the world are strong favourites to reach the quarter-finals with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/croatia/K8aznggo/"]Croatia[/a] and the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/czech-republic/6LHwBDGU/"]Czech Republic[/a] to come.[/p]