Rice insists he is 'good as gold' despite injury scare in England's comeback win over DR Congo

Declan Rice has moved to ease England injury fears after being substituted in the closing stages of their 2-1 comeback win over DR Congo in Atlanta, with the Arsenal midfielder telling reporters he is “good as gold” ahead of Monday’s round-of-16 meeting with co-hosts Mexico.

Rice, 27, hobbled off in place of John Stones shortly after Harry Kane completed the turnaround with his second goal of the evening. Images of Rice icing his quad on the bench immediately raised alarm bells for Thomas Tuchel, particularly given the midfielder had already missed England’s group-stage game against Panama with a calf injury and has also dealt with back and hamstring problems during the tournament.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Rice was relaxed about the situation. “It’s what happens when you play in 30-degree heat I suppose,” he said. “Tough game. Give it everything and bodies been through a lot in that match. Time to recover and go again.” He then added: “I’m fine. Good as gold.”

England’s path to the win was far from straightforward. Brian Cipenga put DR Congo ahead in the seventh minute, beating Jordan Pickford at his near post, and the Three Lions struggled to find a way through for much of the match. Kane eventually delivered, scoring in the 75th and 86th minutes to seal the result.

Rice’s evening took an additional twist when Tuchel moved him to right-back after Djed Spence struggled to contain Cipenga down that flank. With Reece James still sidelined through injury, the England manager may opt to keep Rice in that defensive role against Mexico.

Rice was candid about the difficulty of the contest. “It’s a knockout game. They’ve got through a tough group and it was never going to be easy. You can never underestimate opposition as a neutral, as a player because they have quality and can hurt you at any given moment and they did.”

He also paid tribute to the DR Congo goalkeeper before crediting Kane’s clinical finishing. “Their goalkeeper, credit to him, he had an absolute worldie. Harry Kane, inevitable, scoring them goals. It was a deserved win but made a bit more hard work than we should’ve done. The main thing is knockouts we win and that’s what we done.”

England now travel to Mexico City to face the co-hosts at the Estadio Azteca, a venue situated 2,240 metres above sea level where Mexico have lost just two of 89 competitive matches. Only Brazil and Argentina have ever beaten them there in a World Cup fixture — England will be aiming to become the third.