England hit by double scare
Guehi nurses hamstring pain in run-up to quarter-final Rice kept away from squad after being struck by illness
Thomas Tuchel’s preparations for England’s World Cup quarter-final against Norway have been hit by a fitness and illness scare.
Telegraph Sport understands that Marc Guéhi has been nursing hamstring pain over the past couple of days, as England count down to their last-eight clash.
And vice-captain Declan Rice has been missing from training this week amid fears over illness spreading through the squad.
Guéhi did not train on Wednesday and was still said to be feeling the issue yesterday, ahead of England’s final training session in Miami today.
Guéhi is said to be optimistic that he can shake off the issue and make himself available to Tuchel, but the England head coach will be wary of taking any risks over the fitness of his players.
It remains to be seen whether Guéhi can train fully and freely today. Losing the central defender would be a big blow for Tuchel, as he tries to prepare England for facing Norway striker Erling Haaland.
Rice has been managing pain in his hamstring and back, but is also understood to have felt ill. Rather than risk the spread of any illness or sickness, Tuchel is thought to have kept the midfielder away from the main group as a precaution.
Tuchel is already missing Jordan Henderson after the midfielder broke his left arm after the victory over Mexico. The expectation is that Rice will be cleared to face Norway, but his absence from training has not helped preparations.
Reece James is understood to have returned to training yesterday, but it is unclear whether he will be fit to start against Norway.
It is thought that James is unlikely to have taken part in all of the drills yesterday, having missed the past three games with a hamstring problem amid an England right-back crisis.
James will hope to take part in training again today and may step up his participation if he has not felt any adverse reaction to yesterday’s reduced session.
Jarell Quansah filled in at rightback against Mexico, but was sent off and is now serving a two-game ban that rules him out of the Norway game and a potential semifinal.
John Stones would be favourite to replace Guéhi, with Djed Spence ready to step in at right-back if James could not start. Another option for Tuchel would be to draft both Stones and Dan Burn in, and shift Ezri Konsa to right-back.
Quansah’s suspension was confirmed yesterday in a move that will anger Tuchel and had echoes of the United States’s Folarin Balogun row.
The US, led by Donald Trump, argued against the process by which Balogun was sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Like Quansah, he was dismissed following a VAR review in which the referee was shown a still picture of the incident before watching it back in real time.
It is understood the Football Association privately challenged the process of Quansah’s dismissal, a complaint ignored by Fifa.