Three England players sat out of training on Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s huge World Cup quarter-final with Norway.
The Three Lions are back at their training base in Kansas City, preparing at the Swope Soccer Village for this weekend’s game, which is taking place in Miami.
It is not a clean bill of health in the England squad before the massive clash with the Norwegians, with Thomas Tuchel keeping an eye on fitness issues.
Jordan Henderson is already ruled out of the match, and the rest of the tournament, after he ‘completely smashed’ his left forearm in celebrating the last 16 win over Mexico.
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The Brentford midfielder is staying with the squad, but has undergone surgery and will not play again this summer.
There are less serious issues elsewhere in camp, but serious enough to see Reece James, Declan Rice and Marc Guehi all miss training on Wednesday.
The Sun report that both Rice and Guehi are expected to be fine to face Norway, but are managing ongoing issues.
Rice has been dealing with a hamstring complaint for months, but has been playing through it for club and country.
The Arsenal star was left out of the final group game against Panama but has started all four other games for England at the World Cup.
He will be in midfield again this weekend unless anything goes wrong when he does train this week.
Guehi is reportedly dealing with ‘muscle fatigue’ but is also expected to start in Miami, likely partnering Ezri Konsa again at centre-back.
James is the only serious uncertainty ahead of the quarter-finals as he continues his recovery from a hamstring problem picked up in the group stage.
The Chelsea captain started the first two games of the tournament but has not played since the goalless draw with Ghana.
Tuchel hinted ahead of the Mexico win that James was closing in on a return and there is hope that he will be fit enough to be involved against Norway, but a place in the starting XI seems unlikely.
With Jarell Quansah suspended after his red card in the last round, Djed Spence appears the likeliest option to start at right-back against Norway, as he did against DR Congo in the last 32.
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