England’s midfielder Declan Rice has urged his team to keep going after the World Cup. The Three Lions finished the quadrennial tournament in third place after a 6-4 win against France at the Miami Stadium on Saturday. This is England’s best finish since they won the mega event back in 1966.

Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick whereas Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and Jude Bellingham also found the back of the net for England.

Earlier, England suffered a 2-1 loss against defending champions Argentina, which saw them get knocked out of the final’s race. Tuchel’s team was minutes away from the final berth but Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez scored for La Albiceleste.

“This is the best England group for a very long time,” he told the BBC. “That’s a fact. No-one can take that away from us.”

Rice added: “I think we can be proud as a group — we are just gutted we lost in that semifinal.

“We’re tired of saying we’re proud of coming in semifinals and quarterfinals — we want to win with England ultimately. But to come third in this tournament is a real achievement.

“We’re so close, honestly. There’s been so much talk about this group over the last few years going out of tournaments. There’s been semifinal exits, quarterfinals, finals.

“I think we need to keep going. I do think it’s close. It’s a game of small margins. It’s football and the other night we lost on margins and in the boxes.”

Harry Kane, who was rested against France after scoring six goals at the World Cup, concurred with Rice: “One of the best England groups that I have ever been a part of.

“When you see the boys around the hotel, when you see us training on the pitch, when you see us in the changing room, it is a unique group. We had that bond and had so much belief in each other.”

Kane said about head coach Thomas Tuchel: “It is his first major tournament. I think he has learned a lot of the squad, the campaign, the travel and the games and what it takes — the pressure.”