Rice limps through England's Ghana draw to raise World Cup fitness concerns

Declan Rice raised fresh fitness concerns after limping through England’s goalless draw with Ghana in their second Group L fixture at the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday, completing the full 90 minutes despite being seen with his left calf strapped in the mixed zone afterwards.

It is the second consecutive game in which the Arsenal midfielder has walked away from an England match visibly uncomfortable. Thomas Tuchel substituted Rice in the 72nd minute of last week’s 4-2 win over Croatia, explaining at the time: “Normally I would never take Declan out but I didn’t want to take any risk.” Against Ghana, Tuchel had already used all five of his substitutions by the time Rice began to show signs of discomfort in the closing stages.

Rice himself played down the concern after the Croatia game, telling ITV: “It’s 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.”

The nature of the issue means the sight of Rice hobbling again is not necessarily alarming. Players managing low-level niggles throughout a season routinely feel them more acutely in the immediate aftermath of matches, and Rice started all but three of Arsenal’s Premier League fixtures during their title-winning campaign — including most of the run-in — despite carrying similar undisclosed complaints that appeared potentially calf-related.

England currently sit level on points with Ghana at the top of Group L, with a superior goal difference placing them first. Their route to the knockout stage is all but secured: to miss out on finishing at least second, they would need to lose heavily to already-eliminated Panama on Saturday while Croatia beat Ghana by a narrow margin. Croatia’s 1-0 win over Panama later on Tuesday confirmed that England are guaranteed at least a third-place finish, and four points should be sufficient to progress as one of the eight best third-placed sides.

That security may give Tuchel the option to rest Rice entirely against Panama, reducing the risk of aggravating the problem before the round of 32. Whether the manager chooses to take that precaution — or trusts Rice to manage through another 90 minutes — is likely to be the central selection question of the coming days.