Declan Rice is managing an injury at the World Cup (Image: Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Declan Rice has declared he is prepared to put his “body on the line” and deliver his very best for England at the World Cup. Rice conceded the fixture schedule has been “crazy” and that he has played an “obscene” number of matches for both club and country, with his appearance in the victory over Croatia marking his 63rd game of the season.
The Arsenal midfielder was forced off the pitch in Dallas and has since admitted to carrying a lower back complaint since Christmas, a revelation that must cast some doubt over his fitness heading into the tournament. Rice is not alone in his struggles, with Arsenal team-mate Bukayo Saka also carefully managing his fitness due to a persistent Achilles issue, highlighting the extraordinary physical toll placed on top-level players.
Yet Rice remains emphatic that he is fit, primed to play, and determined to feature from the start in every fixture, including the upcoming Group stage clash with Ghana in Boston on Tuesday.
Rice told ITV: “You get on with it. Obviously, it’s an obscene amount of games. The schedule is crazy but what can we do about it? You can’t sit and complain.
“We have to just get on with it for the moments like I had in the Premier League winning that Premier League.
“You know you’d play as many games as possible to have that feeling again. And knowing there’s a World Cup at the end of it as well.
“You know you’d put your body on the line to be here always and to play. It’s a lot of games, but we’ll get our break at the end.
“It’s obviously still on me on the day to go out there and perform. And that’s the thing with football, you go into a game, you always hope that the best version of you can turn up. But it’s like, you’re a bit like a tennis player or a golfer sometimes.
“Sometimes you have your game, sometimes you don’t have your game. You’re constantly trying to find your best levels and I’ve managed to do that for a lot of periods of this season. And obviously, I want to bring that into the World Cup.”
The midfielder has vowed to play through the pain for his country (Image: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Rice was withdrawn after 72 minutes against Croatia, and England’s backroom staff will need to keep a close eye on his back complaint, which could potentially hamper his mobility and place strain on his hamstrings.
Yet Rice is the sort of player who thrives on action and simply cannot switch off.
He added: “Obviously I’ve been blessed and fortunate enough to have played in as many games as I can so far in my career, an insane amount of games for my age. I just love playing football. I love being durable.
“I love having that rhythm of playing three games a week at club. I wouldn’t like playing once a week, having to wait until another week until the next matchday. I like to keep the momentum going, and I’ve always been like that throughout my career, so it’s just come natural to me.
“I’m ready, I’m fit, raring to go. I think it was a smart decision to come off. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time.
“Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind the scenes stuff. That last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a seventy minute match.
“But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going through it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
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