*Says: “I have matured and progressed a lot since that miss
Bukayo Saka, 21, who is enjoying his first World Cup with England’s Three Lions here in Qatar insisted yesterday that he would be more than happy if picked for penalty kick at this tournament.
The English forward with Nigerian ancestry was one of the three players that missed in England’s Euros final defeat by Italy last year. Along with Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, they were subject of racist abuses online.
But speaking here in Doha barely 24 hours after helping the Three Lions defeat Senegal 3-0 to book a quarter final clash with reigning world champions, France, Saka he had matured since that miss to become a more confident player.
“Personally I’ve tried to move on from that moment,” said Saka.
“Obviously I know I can never really forget about that – it’s there in history.
“But at the same time coming out here and scoring those three goals, of course, lifted me a lot – and the love from the fans that I keep receiving has lifted me a lot as well and gives me a lot of confidence.
“I have matured and progressed a lot since that moment. I wouldn’t have stepped up the number of times I have for Arsenal if I was not confident.
“If the moment comes and I am selected to take it, I will be more than happy to,” observed the Arsenal forward.
He however insisted that England have nothing to fear when they face the World Cup holders on Saturday.
“There’s a lot of tournament experience (in the squad) now,” said Saka.
“If you look at the results from the last few tournaments we’ve been in, we’ve got to a semi-final, a final and a quarter-final.
“So when the big games come we have a lot of players who know what they need to do.”
Kylian Mbappe is the top goal-scorer at this World Cup with five, while Saka is joint second with three goals as Lionel Messi (Argentina), Marcus Rashford (England), Alvaro Morata (Spain), Enner Valencia (Ecuador) and Cody Gakpo of the Netherlands.
Asked if he could be the breakout star of Qatar 2022, as Mbappe was four years ago in Russia, Saka said: “Thank you for the compliment, but no.
“There’s only one Kylian Mbappe, but at the same time there’s only one me. I just want to be myself and help my team in the best way I can.
“There’s so many young players in this tournament and I can name so many, even in my own team – there’s another young player alongside us doing unbelievably well in Jude Bellingham.
“I’m just happy that we’re all here, all doing well and the priority is to try to win the tournament rather than be the Player of the Tournament or Young Player of the Tournament.”
