Arsenal and England star Declan Rice reveals secret six-month injury battle as he makes World Cup fitness declaration
DECLAN RICE has played down fears that he is struggling with injury because of playing an“obscene” amount of games this season.
The Arsenal star clocked up his 63rd match of the campaign in England’s World Cup opener against Croatia on Wednesday.
Worryingly, the key midfielder was taken off with 18 minutes to go in the 4-2 victory over the Balkans in Dallas.
He has since admitted the reason was because of secret “neural pain” in his hamstring which he has been managing for more than SIX MONTHS.
Yet Rice insisted: “I’m ready, I’m fit, raring to go.
“I think it was a smart decision (to be taken off). I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time.
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“Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind the scenes stuff.
“But it was a smart decision, and in the end, that last twenty minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match, but that last twenty is where you really feel your body going through it.
“And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Premier League winner Rice will make it 64 matches for the season should he feature against Ghana in Boston on Tuesday.
This year’s World Cup is like no other as a record-breaking 48 nations compete to lift football’s biggest prize.
England manager Thomas Tuchel is hoping to finally bring football home after a 60-year drought.
But footballing legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have other plans in what will likely be their final World Cup appearance.
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He will reach a whopping 71 if England make it to the World Cup final.
The 27-year-old will also get to 75 caps against the Ghanaians which he admits, along with his 406 club games for West Ham and Arsenal, is “insane” for his age.
Speaking about this season’s gruelling fixture list in particular, Rice told ITV: “It’s an obscene amount of games.
“The schedule is crazy but what can we do about it? You can’t sit and complain.
“We have to just get on with it for the moments like I had in the Premier League winning that Premier League.
“You know you’d play as many games as possible to have that feeling again.
“And knowing there’s a World Cup at the end of it as well. You know you’d put your body on the line to be here, always, and to play. It’s a lot of games, but we’ll get our break at the end.”
Rice’s Arsenal colleague Bukayo Saka has had his own fitness issues due to a longstanding Achilles problem.
The winger only came off the bench against Croatia and did not train on Saturday, working on his own programme instead.
Asked if Saka can still have a big impact at the tournament, close pal Rice replied: “Hundred percent. It’s really good the way we’re managing him.
“The amount of football he’s played, I’ve seen him at Arsenal with this little Achilles problem he’s got. We’re managing him the right way for sure.”
Saka and Rice were pivotal to Arsenal ending their 22-year wait for another Premier League title this season.
That was magical for the midfielders but they would become national heroes if they could help consign 60 years of hurt to history with World Cup glory this summer.
Rice was asked what lessons he has learnt from getting over the line with his club this term that can propel him to do the same with his country.
The former Hammer, who started both heartbreaking final defeats in the last two European Championships, replied: “It’s just about not getting distracted, focusing on the job.
“That’s what we’ve done at Arsenal this year.
“We obviously had a couple of close calls in the last few years finishing second, but this year, I noticed a difference in terms of blocking out the outside noise, focusing on what we know we’re good at.
“Internally working really hard to achieve what we’ve done. And we’ve obviously done that.
“And here, I feel like we’ve had two Euros finals losses. And we’ve got that fire in us to know we want to go one step further, and we believe if we can.”
If England are to go all the way, there is a good chance Rice’s set-pieces will play a significant part.
He set up Harry Kane’s second goal against Croatia with a corner, following a season of looking deadly from dead-ball situations.
Yet Rice revealed it was only thanks to Arsenal’s set-piece coach Nicolas Jover that England are benefiting from his laser-like delivery.
He told BBC Sport: “I wouldn’t ever take corners or set-pieces, but Nico and the manager at Arsenal saw something in me that others didn’t.
“They said that I can put balls in areas from a dead ball that no-one else can in the team at Arsenal other than Bukayo. From that moment, I really just bought into that, believed in that.
“As time has gone on I feel like now every time I put down a ball for a set-piece – whether it’s a corner or a wide free-kick – I feel like I’m going to get an assist or make something happen that’s dangerous.
“That’s a good mentality to have over set-pieces… and England fans can be excited.”
source: thesun
