Arsenal star Declan Rice has disclosed that this is the best England group in recent memory following their third-place finish at the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Captaining the squad to a wild 6-4 victory over France in the bronze-medal match, he expressed pride in the squad but admitted he and his teammates were gutted over their agonizing semi-final loss to Argentina.
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While reflecting on the tournament, he highlighted that the current group has more than enough to win major trophies and that pulling on the England shirt is an unmatched honour.
“This is the best England group for a very long time. That’s a fact. No-one can take that away from us.
“I think we can be proud as a group – we’re just gutted we lost in that semi-final.
“We’re tired of saying we’re proud of coming in semi-finals and quarter-finals – 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 semi-final exits, quarter-finals, finals.
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“I think we need to keep going. I do think it’s close. It’s a game of small margins. It’s football and against Argentina we lost on margins and in the boxes.”
Rice and England are next in action as part of September’s UEFA Nations League where they take on new world champions Spain and Czechia.
