Bukayo Saka's Struggles and England's World Cup Hopes

Bukayo Saka looks spent. Not just tired, but dulled – the edge blunted, the usual sparkle missing.

That is the stark verdict from Gary Neville and Ian Wright, who fear England’s most reliable wide threat is running on fumes at the very moment a World Cup campaign in North America demands clarity, power and freshness.

Saka’s shadow hangs over England

Saka has been carrying a persistent Achilles problem, an issue serious enough for the FA’s medical team to monitor him closely throughout the tournament. The numbers tell their own story: three group games, all from the bench, his minutes tightly controlled by Thomas Tuchel.

On Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet, Neville didn’t bother dressing it up.

“Bukayo Saka doesn't look right at all,” he said. “He's usually the boy that's bubbling and smiling, he's got that competitive edge to him, but he's not right and that's a concern to us, I think.”

This isn’t a winger short of form after a couple of quiet weeks. This is a player who has been forced through a brutal domestic season, whose Premier League run-in was carefully managed because he could barely string together full 90-minute performances. The load never really eased. It just shifted.

Saka admitted before the tournament he was “happy to gamble” with his fitness. The gamble is now playing out on the biggest stage.

Wright, watching the same laboured movements and heavy legs, is openly questioning whether England should have brought him at all.

“We're going into a World Cup, and still not starting the first few games, only starting when we're three games in, and still isn't looking like the Saka that we know – this guy needs a break,” Wright said, the concern cutting through. To him, this is not rust. It is exhaustion.

Wingers wasting their moment

Saka’s struggles would be less alarming if England’s other wide players were tearing the tournament open. They are not.

Anthony Gordon and Noni Madueke have both been handed chances. Neither has seized them with the authority knockout football demands. The flanks, usually a traditional strength of English sides, have felt flat and predictable, offering too little incision and too few decisive moments.

The result? England have leaned heavily on Jude Bellingham’s surging interventions and Harry Kane’s ruthless finishing. When the margins tighten, that reliance becomes a risk.

Roy Keane can see the problem looming.

“The wingers need to grab their opportunity. These players haven't quite grabbed their opportunity yet,” he said. “In the group games, you can maybe slip up in one of them, but now at least one of them has to start turning up.”

Group-stage slack has gone. From here, every miscontrolled touch and wrong decision on the wing will be magnified. If Saka is hobbling and the alternatives are hesitating, Tuchel has a tactical headache with no easy solution.

A brutal path and a brutal verdict

England’s last-32 tie against DR Congo in Atlanta should, on paper, be manageable. It will not define their tournament. What comes after might.

If they progress, a route through Mexico or Ecuador could set up a quarter-final with Brazil. Survive that, and the prize is a semi-final against reigning champions Argentina. It is a path that starts gently and then turns into a mountain range.

Wright believes England can climb part of it.

“I think if we can get to Brazil we could probably beat Brazil,” he said. “But then I think we’d have problems after that. I said England would reach the semi-final from the start.”

Keane doesn’t share even that cautious optimism when the conversation shifts to Lionel Messi and Argentina.

“England would have absolutely no chance of beating Argentina in the semi’s, I just can’t see it,” he stated, blunt as ever.

Strip away the emotion and the picture is clear. A physically compromised Saka, back-up wingers yet to ignite, and a knockout path that grows harsher with every round. England still have the talent to punch through this side of the draw, but without a fit, fearless Saka – or someone willing to rip the shirt off him and own that role – the ceiling on this campaign might already be set.