German coach Thomas Tuchel affirmed that the England national football team took its first step towards narrowing the gap with the big teams after defeating France on Saturday in the World Cup third-place match 6-4. Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick in the exciting win under the Miami heat, while Frenchman Kylian Mbappé became the all-time top scorer in the World Cup after scoring two goals, raising his tally to 22, one goal ahead of Lionel Messi, the forward and captain of Argentina, who will play the final on Sunday against Spain. Tuchel had spoken on the eve of the match about the bitterness of England's loss to Argentina 1-2 in the semi-final on Wednesday, stressing the need to close the gap with the defending champion, as well as with France and Spain. The German coach, who faced a barrage of criticism in the English media due to his cautious approach against Argentina, explained that England made progress by defeating France. He told the BBC after the match: 'We have the ability to close this gap, but they also have the ability to widen it again.' He added: 'Eight years ago France were world champions. Four years ago they reached the final. There is a small gap, but it is not a problem. We want to close it.' He continued: 'I said that Saturday's match is the first step towards closing it. And we did that. We beat them. The next challenge will be against Spain in the Nations League.' He elaborated: 'Seeing a team fight in this way gives you energy. The fatigue will come later. We will also feel the pain when the final is played on Sunday. It will take some time to overcome that, but overall it gives me more energy than it drains from me.' Image caption: Thomas Tuchel, coach of the England national football team, watches Saturday's match against France (AFP).