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Declan Rice insists he is ready to put his “body on the line” and bring his best game to the World Cup.
Rice admitted the schedule has been “crazy” and he has played an “obscene” number of games for club and country after his appearance in England’s opening Group game against Croatia was his 63rd of the season.
The Arsenal midfielder had to be substituted in Dallas and admitted that he has been suffering from a lower back problem since Christmas, which should raise concerns about his fitness for this tournament.
Rice is not the only one because his Arsenal teammate Bukayo Saka is also monitoring his fitness due to a persistent Achilles tendon problem demonstrating the demands on the players.
But Rice insists he is fit, ready to play and wants to start every game, including the next group match against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday. Rice told ITV (Mirror): “Just keep going. Obviously, it’s an obscene amount of games.
“The schedule is crazy, but what can we do about it? You can’t sit back and complain. We have to get on with the moments like I had in the Premier League winning that Premier League.
“You know that you would play as many games as possible to have that feeling again. And knowing that at the end there will also be a World Cup. You know that you would put your body on the line to always be here and play. There are a lot of games, but we will have our break at the end.
Also Read: World Cup 2026: Troost-Ekong backs Ghana to earn points against England
“Obviously, it’s still up to me on the day to go out and perform. And that’s the thing about football, you go into a game, you always hope the best version of yourself shows up. But sometimes you’re a bit like a tennis player or a golfer.
“Sometimes you have your game, sometimes you don’t have your game. You are constantly trying to find your best levels and I have managed to do that for many periods this season. And obviously, I want to take that to the World Cup.”
Rice was substituted in the 72nd minute against Croatia, so they will have to be careful with his back problem which could obviously affect his mobility and his hamstrings. But Rice is a player who really wants to play and hates sitting still. Even after Arsenal won the title and Rice and a few others were out partying… the next day, with little sleep, he went to the golf course.
Rice said: “I’ve obviously been blessed and fortunate to have played as many games as I can so far in my career, an incredible amount of games for my age. I love playing football. I love being durable.
“I love having that rhythm of playing three games a week at the club. I wouldn’t like to play once a week, have to wait until another week until the next game. I like to keep the momentum going, and I’ve always been like that throughout my career, so it’s natural for me.
“I’m ready, fit, looking forward to playing. I think it was a smart decision to go out. I was feeling a bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing after Christmas with Arsenal for a long time.”
