Thomas Tuchel says he would never normally substitute Declan Rice – but had concerns about an injury that England’s star midfielder has admitted he’s been ‘nursing’ for weeks before the World Cup.
Rice was substituted with 18 minutes left of England’s thrilling opening with against Croatia on Wednesday night, with his dad Sean and girlfriend Lauren Fryer watching on from the stands in Dallas.
The Arsenal star, 27, went off with a limp, to be replaced by Morgan Rogers, and had earlier sparked some concerns as part of a disjointed England performance in the first half before they turned it around to crush Croatia.
Rice himself insists he is ‘all good’ but boss Tuchel and England will assess him before a run of games that starts with the Three Lions’ second game of Group L against Ghana on Tuesday night week.
‘Let’s see, I hope they are okay,’ Tuchel told ITV in response to a question about Rice and other England injury issues. ‘Normally I would never take Declan out but I didn’t want to take any risk.’
Declan Rice had to be substituted by Thomas Tuchel in England’s opening World Cup game
Rice’s dad Sean and girlfriend Lauren Fryer watch on as Rice and England beat Croatia
Later, he added: ‘Declan pointed to his lower back, upper hamstring and feels some discomfort. I didn’t want to take any risks.
‘It was a moment to protect him. I hope it’s nothing more. Declan reassured me at the end it’s good. It’s nothing big to worry about.’
Rice himself told ITV: ‘All good. Good as gold. Just what I’ve been nursing probably in the second half of the season at Arsenal.
‘Little neural pains here and there. But yeah, I’m all good. All fine, just precaution. I’ll be back out there against Ghana (England’s next game).’
Rice got an assist as Harry Kane – twice – Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford scored to give England lift-off in the States.
In the World Cup’s most entertaining game so far they traded goals with Croatia in the first half before a half-time dressing down from Tuchel sparked a superb performance after the break.
Winger Anthony Gordon said of Tuchel’s half-time speech, speaking to talkSPORT: ‘He said, “Loosen up” He said, “This is not what I see in training”.
‘The training sessions have been so intense – the highest level. So it wasn’t what we’d done in training and he said that.
‘He said, “What’s the worse that can happen – we lose the game? So what! Let’s go out and be ourselves”.
‘And that really kicked us into gear because we came out strong.’
