Rice spent nearly three days in bed before Norway match, says Tuchel

England manager Thomas Tuchel has disclosed that midfielder Declan Rice spent the majority of the three days leading up to the World Cup quarter-final against Norway confined to bed due to illness. Despite his condition, Rice started the match, which England won 2-1 after extra time, but was substituted at the beginning of the second half.

Match details and key moments

The quarter-final, played in stifling heat at Miami Stadium, saw Norway take the lead through Andreas Schjelderup. Jude Bellingham equalised just before half-time and later scored the winner during extra time, securing England's place in the semi-finals against Argentina. Argentina had earlier defeated Switzerland.

Tuchel explains substitution decision

Tuchel explained that the decision to replace Rice was tactical as well as physical. "We had some players struggling in the heat," Tuchel said. "Ezri Konsa was one of them with cramps and the hamstrings. Declan, we made a decision in half-time to become more offensive, to have a bit of an offensive shift. I made the decision when we were 1-0 down and didn't want to go back on the decision because of the equaliser."

Rice had been a doubt for the match, having previously suffered from a neural issue affecting his hamstring and lower back, which was exacerbated by the illness. He trained on the eve of the quarter-final but was unable to complete the full match. Tuchel elaborated: "We had to take Elliot [Anderson] or Declan out [and] knowing that Declan struggled after the last three days where he was most of the time in bed, I knew he cannot survive 90 minutes. There was a possibility that it goes 120 [minutes], so I didn't want to waste another change, so the decision was to take Declan out earlier than he needed to go out, just to save us another change later down the match."

Rice's tournament performance

Rice, who helped Arsenal win the Premier League title last season, has started five of England's six matches at the 2026 World Cup. The only game he missed was the group stage match against Panama. The semi-final against Argentina is scheduled for 20:00 BST on Wednesday, 15 July, and will be broadcast live across the BBC.