England are facing a series of injury concerns ahead of their second World Cup game against Ghana on Tuesday. Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford are all doubts before the Group L match in Boston.
Saka and Rashford came off the bench to combine for England’s fourth goal in their 4-2 win against Croatia, which came after Declan Rice had been replaced with a hamstring injury.
Thomas Tuchel confirmed Saka is unlikely to start the game with Ghana as England continue to manage his long-standing Achilles problem, with Noni Madueke likely to continue on the right wing.
“Bukayo is ready and will get more and more ready,” Tuchel said after the win over Croatia. “Once we get to the last game in the group it is the moment. He was strong yesterday [Tuesday] in training in small spaces. It’s just a matter of if the game is open and up and down.”
Rashford complained of muscle tightness after the game and he is being monitored, while captain Harry Kane suffered a bout of cramp late in the game and wore strapping in training.
Rice left the field in the second half having been seen clutching the top of his right leg. Tuchel replaced him with Morgan Rogers and dropped Bellingham back into a deeper role, before later moving Reece James into midfield.
“Declan had some unusual ball losses and I saw a bit of discomfort,” Tuchel said. “I asked him, and he pointed directly to his lower back, upper hamstring, that he feels the discomfort.
“I didn’t want to take any risk, so I decided to take Declan off – which I never wanted to do – but it was the moment to protect him, and I think Reece James did so well to replace him in the central midfield. [Rice] had a fantastic game, so I hope it’s nothing more, and he just reassured me at the end: ‘It’s good, and I know the discomfort’. We will take care of it, and this is nothing big to worry about.”
England have already lost one player to injury, after Tino Livramento pulled out of the camp with a calf strain. The Newcastle United full-back was replaced by Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah.
England will train at their Kansas City base over the weekend before travelling to Boston next week.
