Thomas Tuchel gave England a useful update on Friday night. Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson both trained at England’s Kansas City base camp and are available for Panama, while Reece James is the only player ruled out with a hamstring issue.
Tuchel said: "Anderson and Rice were training today. They had minor issues after the match but they had enough time to recover. So everyone except for Reece James is available, and we will take the decision on who starts the game tomorrow."
Rice and Anderson in training
Rice left Boston Stadium after the Ghana game with strapping round his left calf and walking with a slight limp. That made the update on Friday more relevant than a routine team-news note, especially with Arsenal watching his recovery closely after a long season.
The numbers suggest England are dealing with a player who has already taken a fair amount of tournament load. Rice has 2 World Cup appearances and 162 minutes so far, while Anderson played 74 minutes in England’s latest match. That is enough to explain why Tuchel wanted both players back on the grass before the squad flew to New York.
James is the one absence
The clearest part of Tuchel’s update is that James remains out. He is the only nominal right-back in the squad and misses the Panama match because of a hamstring issue, which leaves England short in one specific area rather than broadly depleted.
Rice’s own view is more reassuring than the visual suggested after Ghana. He said: "I'm ready and fit, raring to go." He also said he had been managing neural pain in his hamstring from after Christmas with Arsenal, but the England manager’s message was straightforward enough: both Rice and Anderson are available, and the final decision is about the starting XI, not whether they can be used.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →