Midfielder was taken off for England against Croatia but says he is “ready and fit” for Ghana
Declan Rice says he has been playing with injuries for six months due to “an obscene amount of games” but expects to be available for England’s World Cup group match against Ghana.
The midfielder was withdrawn during the second half of England’s 4-2 victory over Croatia, but he said its something he has been managing for half a year and that the decision to take him off was precautionary.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go,” Rice said. “I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70‑minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Rice made 63 appearances for club and country last season, playing nearly every game for Arsenal in their Premier League title-winning campaign as well as their runs to the Champions League and Carabao Cup finals, before joining England for the World Cup in North America. It ties to the debate around the increasingly packed schedule for players.
“It’s an obscene amount of games,” Rice said. “The schedule was crazy but what can we do about it? You can’t sit and complain. We have to just get on with it for the moments like I had in the Premier League, winning that Premier League.
“You know you’d play as many games as possible to have that feeling again and knowing that there’s a World Cup at the end of it as well. You know you’d put your body on the line to be always in to play. It’s a lot of games but we’ll get our break at the end.”
