England coach Thomas Tuchel says Declan Rice spent most of the three days leading up to their World Cup quarter-final win over Norway in bed due to illness.
Rice started in the 2-1 win over Norway but looked as if he was struggling in the stifling heat at Miami Stadium before being replaced by Arsenal teammate Eberechi Eze early in the second half.
England lost 1-0 when Andreas Schjelderup scored for Norway, but Jude Bellingham equalized just before half-time and grabbed the winner for the Three Lions in extra time.
The victory sets up the semi-final against Argentina, which beat Switzerland, which kicks off at 8pm BST on Wednesday 15 July and will be shown live on the BBC.
“Some players struggled with the heat,” Tuchel said. “Ezri Konsa was one of them, he had cramps and hamstrings.
“Declan, at half-time we made the decision to become more attacking, to move forward a little.
“I made the decision when we were 1-0 down and I didn’t want to give it up because I scored an equalizer.”
Rice was a doubt for the Norway game as he was already suffering from a nerve disorder affecting his hamstring and lower back, which was aggravated by illness.
He trained on the eve of the quarter-finals but gave way at half-time.
Tuchel said: “We had to take Elliot (Anderson) or Declan (and) knowing that Declan was struggling after the last three days where he was in bed most of the time, I knew he couldn’t last 90 minutes.
“There was a chance it would go 120 (minutes) so I didn’t want to lose another sub, so the decision was made to take Declan off earlier than he needed to come on, just to save us another sub later in the match.”
Rice, who helped Arsenal win the Premier League title last season, started five of England’s six matches at the 2026 World Cup, with the group game against Panama the only one he missed.