Rice Spent Three Days Before Match in Bed

England midfielder Declan Rice spent the majority of the three days leading up to the quarter-final clash against Norway confined to bed. This revelation came from Three Lions manager Thomas Tuchel, who explained his decision to substitute the Arsenal midfielder at halftime during yesterday's encounter. Rice had been unwell in the preceding days, leading to his isolation from the main squad. Despite this, he had started five of England's six matches at the 2026 World Cup so far.

"We had a few players who were really struggling with the heat. Ezri Konsa was one of them, experiencing hamstring cramps. For Declan, we decided to become more offensive and make a change in attack. I made the decision while we were 0-1 down. I chose not to alter it after the equalizer. We had to take off Elliott Anderson and Declan Rice. Over the last three days, Declan spent most of his time in bed, so I knew he couldn't last 90 minutes. There was a high probability the game would go to 120 minutes, and I didn't want to waste a substitution. That's why I decided to take Declan off earlier than necessary – to save us a substitution later in the match," Tuchel stated.