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Declan Rice was seen limping away from England's goalless draw with Ghana on Tuesday night.
The Arsenal midfielder completed the full 90 minutes for the Three Lions, but appeared to be hobbling slightly in the closing minutes of the game after Thomas Tuchel had already used all five of his substitutes.
This is the second game in a row that Rice has walked away from somewhat gingerly having done likewise after the 4-2 win over Croatia last week.
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Declan Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation
Tuchel had taken Rice off in the 72nd minute against Croatia, with the manager saying after the game: "Normally I would never take Declan out but I didn’t want to take any risk."
Rice himself meanwhile told ITV: "It's just what I’ve been nursing probably in the second half of the season at Arsenal - little neural pains here and there. But yeah, I’m all good. All fine, just precaution."
🚨 Declan Rice walked through mixed zone with left calf strapped & noticeable limp after #England 0-0 draw with #Ghana in 2nd match at #2026FIFAWorldCup. Severity unclear ahead of last Group L game against #Panama in New Jersey this Saturday @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/1lKh7u1Aaq pic.twitter.com/4uw7NU59oUJune 24, 2026
That means the same thing happening after the Ghana game could be something or nothing: it would not exactly be unusual for a player who has been managing that kind of injury to be feeling it a bit immediately after a game.
As he indicated, Rice had some undisclosed niggles that looked potentially calf-related throughout the second half the Gunners' title-winning season last term.
But that did not stop him from starting all by three of their Premier League games over the season, one of which was the final game of the campaign with the title already in the bag and the Champions League final ahead.
England are very likely to make it through to the knockout stage unless an absolute nightmare scenario unfolds in the final Group L games on Saturday.
That may afford Tuchel the opportunity to gamble on resting Rice ahead of the round of 32.
England are level on points with Ghana at the top of Group L, and sit in first place on goal difference.
For them to miss out on finishing at least second in the group, England would probably need to lose by at least three goals to already-eliminated Panama, with Croatia only narrowly beating Ghana in the other game.
However, Croatia's 1-0 victory over Panama later on Tuesday means that England are guaranteed to finish at least third in their group, and four points will probably be enough to make sure they would finish as one of the eight best third-placed teams.
