Arsenal pair Rice and Saliba playing through pain for months

Rice says schedule ‘obscene’ for club and country

England's Declan Rice (left) and team-mates during a training session at Swope Soccer Village, Kansas City. Picture: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire.

Declan Rice has revealed he has been managing nerve pain in a hamstring since Christmas as he reflected on the “obscene” number of matches he has played this season.

The England midfielder sparked concern when he was forced off in the 72nd minute of the 4-2 World Cup win against Croatia last Wednesday. The problem relates to the upper hamstring, with the pain radiating into his lower back. But Rice described his substitution as “smart” and said he would be fighting fit for England’s second group game against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday.

“I’m ready and fit, raring to go,” he told ITV Sport. “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 has played 63 matches this season, 55 for Arsenal and eight for England. His club reached the finals of the Champions League and Carabao Cup, losing against Paris Saint‑Germain and Manchester City, and won the Premier League.

“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.”

Rice's club teammate William Saliba also said he has been playing through pain for several months, but the defender has been inspired to keep pushing by the opportunity to make history.

“I’ve had some minor niggles for several months,” Saliba said ahead of Monday’s clash with Iraq. “I’ve been gritting my teeth because there was the Champions League and the Premier League. But the coaching staff are handling it very well.

“The World Cup comes round only once every four years, so you’ve got to grit your teeth. I’m not at 100 per cent, but there are plenty of players who aren’t at 100 per cent either – you can’t make excuses.” 

England began a hot-weather acclimatisation camp in Florida at the start of June and know the heat and humidity in North America are among the major challenges. 

The Croatia game was played in Dallas’s domed, air-conditioned stadium, where the temperature was set at 22C. Happily, it is forecast to be something similar in Boston’s open-air stadium for the 4pm local kick-off (9pm BST).

It is likely England will play in much hotter conditions after that but Rice said the players have been reassured by Thomas Tuchel that they have the conditioning to cope.

“The heat’s going to dictate [our playing style] in spells but the manager’s been really clear with us and with this squad that we have the strength and power to outrun and outplay teams with our strength,” Rice said.

Guardian and PA