Thomas Tuchel revealed that Declan Rice spent a lot of time preparing for the England match World Cup The quarter-final against Norway was bedridden due to illness before helping the Three Lions reach the quarter-finals.
The Arsenal midfielder started in Saturday’s 2-1 win at Miami despite struggling with illness in the days leading up to the game, but was replaced at half-time by team-mate Eberechi Eze.
Rice looked uncomfortable in the Florida heat as England struggled early and fell behind to Norway in Andreas Schildrup’s opener.
However, Jude Bellingham equalized shortly before half-time before sealing the win in extra time to send England into the semi-finals against Argentina on Wednesday.
Speaking after the match, Tuchel explained the extent of Rice’s condition and why he chose to withdraw one of his key players at half-time.
“We had some players suffering from the heat,” Tuchel said.
“Ezri Konsa was one of them, suffering from cramps and hamstring pain.
“Declan, we made a decision at half-time to be more attacking, to have a bit of an attacking shift.”
Planned rice withdrawal
The England coach admitted that the substitution was planned while his team was trailing and that Bellingham’s equalizer just before the end of the first half did not change his thinking.
He added: “I made the decision when we were 1-0 down and I did not want to back down from the decision because of the equalizer.”
Rice was already suffering from a nerve problem that affected his hamstrings and lower back during the tournament, and the illness further complicated his preparations for the Norway match.
Although he was fit enough to train on the eve of the quarter-final, Tuchel felt there was little chance of the midfielder completing the entire match if it went beyond 90 minutes.
Tuchel said: “We had to take Elliot (Anderson) or Declan out, and knowing that Declan suffered after the last three days where he was most of the time in bed, I knew he could not survive for 90 minutes.”
“There was a possibility it could go to 120, so I didn’t want to waste another substitution, so the decision was to get Declan out earlier than he needed to come out, just to save us another substitution later in the game.”
Rice started five of England’s six matches at the 2026 World Cup, with the group stage win over Panama being the only match he missed.
