Tuchel reveals Declan Rice was in bed for three days before Norway match

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rice-declan/zkQ8Cm6n/"]Rice[/a] was already doubtful for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/england-j9N9ZNFA/norway-8rP6JO0H/?mid=UyLHmWuh"]Saturday's quarterfinal[/a] with a neural issue that affected his back and hamstring, but was struck by a bad stomach bug, exacerbating his ailments.[/p][p]Despite his poor status, Rice was given the start against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/norway/8rP6JO0H/"]Norway[/a] before being taken off at halftime. Tuchel explained this move as a tactical substitution.[/p][p][b]"We made a decision in half-time to become more offensive, to have a bit of an offensive shift," [/b]the German manager said following [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/england/j9N9ZNFA/"]England[/a]'s 2-1 extra-time win.[/p][p][b]"I made the decision when we were 1-0 down and didn't want to go back on the decision because of the equaliser."[/b][/p][image alt="Declan Rice's heat map against Norway" id="65b1c237-a275-4013-b454-d02b03b7cb6f" credit-line="Opta via StatsPerform (Photo by RICHARD PELHAM / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP)" guid="7368b459-02f4-4f16-811e-0f40d879fdc3" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Tuchel said that Rice had done poorly in the days leading up to the Norway game.[/p][p][b]"We had to take [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/anderson-elliott/KdYCbsbE/"]Elliot[/a] (Anderson) or Declan (Rice) off, knowing that Declan struggled after the last three days, when he was most of the time in bed. I knew he could not survive 90 minutes.[/b][/p][p][b]There was a possibility that it would go 120 minutes, so I didn't want to waste another change. The decision was to take Declan out earlier than he needed to go out, just to save us another change later down the match."[/b][/p][p]England take on [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/argentina/f9OppQjp/"]Argentina[/a] on [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/argentina-f9OppQjp/england-j9N9ZNFA/?mid=pKVyGJbD"]Wednesday, July 15th, at 21.00 CEST[/a] in the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.[/p][infobox id="4ccc1b10-d68f-4c97-bcf4-5e613c17c2e3" /]