Rice recovers from food poisoning to target England's World Cup semi-final start against Argentina

Declan Rice is set to return to full fitness for England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday, having spent three days in bed last week with suspected food poisoning.

The Arsenal midfielder was only able to complete 45 minutes of England’s previous match against Norway before being substituted at half-time due to the illness. Manager Thomas Tuchel confirmed after that game that Rice was well below his best, explaining he had made the early substitution partly to preserve a tactical change should the match extend to extra time.

“Declan struggled after the last three days where he was most of the time in bed,” Tuchel said on Saturday. “I knew he could not survive 90 minutes and there was a possibility that it goes 120, so I didn’t want to waste another change so the decision was to take Declan earlier out than he needed to go out, just to save us another change later down the match.”

England’s medical staff were initially concerned the illness could spread through the squad, but it remained contained to Rice. He is now understood to be on the mend and hopes to train fully ahead of the semi-final, with Tuchel prepared to give him extra time to prove his fitness.

Rice’s importance to this England side is hard to overstate. Tuchel has made him vice-captain and leans on him as one of his most experienced operators in midfield. The 26-year-old had already been managing lower back problems affecting his hamstrings earlier in the tournament before the food poisoning setback compounded his difficulties.

His midfield partnership with Newcastle’s Elliot Anderson has been a feature of England’s run to the last four, though Anderson himself was also visibly short of full fitness against Norway, which further blunted England’s performance in that match.

A fully fit Rice would represent a significant boost for Tuchel as England prepare to face Argentina in what would be one of the defining games of Rice’s international career.