Declan Rice is on track to defeat a bout of illness and secure his spot in the lineup for England’s World Cup semi-final showdown with Argentina on Wednesday. The Arsenal midfielder was taken off at the interval during England’s quarter-final triumph over Norway, with manager Thomas Tuchel disclosing that the player had spent the majority of the preceding three days confined to his bed due to sickness. However, reports indicate that Rice’s condition has improved markedly since the team returned to their Kansas City headquarters for the last time prior to their Tuesday departure for Atlanta, and the 27-year-old is tipped to line up in midfield alongside Elliot Anderson to face the defending global champions.
Wednesday’s semi-final clash in Atlanta marks the first competitive World Cup meeting between these two historical rivals since 2002. The England goalkeeper believes that maintaining emotional discipline will be crucial to securing a positive outcome. “You’ve seen throughout the tournament, you’ve seen our desire to win titles, we’ve not gotten into any scuffles or anything,” he remarked. “We’ve been very respectful within the game – if decisions go our way or if they don’t go our way, we just reset, we go again, and we let the football do the talking. It just shows our mentality, we don’t get wrapped up in things like that, we stay focused.” When questioned about the prospect of facing Lionel Messi on the pitch for the first time, the Everton shot-stopper remarked: “It’s great to finally come up against him – I watched him a lot as a kid.”
“It’s just a game of football with two sets of passionate fans who are going to be at the game. That’s what football does – it brings the fans and the nations together. We are two proud nations but the football will do the talking. Us and Argentina and Spain and France are the top four nations in the world in the rankings and we’ve all got the stage to get to the final. This is us against them and another great nation to play against. What a game it’s going to be and it’s about us beating them.”
“That is the dream but it’s all about Wednesday,” he said. “They are a very talented team and, regardless of the rivalry, I think it’s about us being at our best to try and get through a final in the World Cup, that’s what the challenge is. “In 2018, it was about connecting the nation together. Now we’re in the semi-final again, we want to put smiles on our people’s faces again.”
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