England head coach, Thomas Tuchel, has explained why he substituted Declan Rice at half-time during the Three Lions’ 2-1 extra-time victory over Norway in the quarter-finals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Rice started the match despite battling illness during the week but was replaced at the break alongside Noni Madueke, with Tuchel introducing Eberechi Eze and Bukayo Saka as England chased an equaliser after trailing 1-0 at half-time.
Speaking after the match, Tuchel said the decision was driven by both tactical considerations and concerns over Rice’s fitness.
“Declan, we made a decision at half-time to become more offensive, a bit of an offensive shift,” Tuchel said.
“I made the decision when we were 1-0 down and I didn’t want to go back on the decision because of the equaliser. I thought this was the right signal to give the team to have higher positions when Norway defends in a deep block.
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“So we put in Eze and Bukayo on the right wing which meant we had to take Elliot or Declan out, knowing Declan’s struggles in the last three days where he was most of the time in bed, I knew he could not survive 90 minutes and there was a possibility of 120 minutes, so I didn’t want to waste another change so the decision was to take Declan earlier out than he needed to go out just to save us another change later down the match.”
England recovered from Andreas Schjelderup’s first-half opener, with Jude Bellingham equalising before the interval and scoring the winner in extra time to send the Three Lions into the World Cup semi-finals.
Tuchel’s substitutions proved decisive as England overturned the deficit to secure a place in the last four, where they will continue their pursuit of a first men’s World Cup title since 1966.
