Reece James will be unavailable for England‘s round of 16 match against Mexico due to a hamstring injury, a must-win game if the team wants to advance to the next stage. The right-back hasn’t been able to train with the national team recently.
Although Tuchel didn’t completely rule him out, telling talkSPORT, “Reece is maybe on the bench tomorrow, let’s see. But everyone else is fully available,” the chances of him actually helping England against Mexico are slim to none.
Whether James is on the bench or not won’t make much of a difference; if he isn’t at 100%, he won’t be able to keep up with the pace of his earlier World Cup matches. Because of this, England will need to look at their available replacements for that position.
Who could replace James in the lineup?
With James sidelined, one name who could step up is Jarell Quansah, who recently returned to full training following his own injury. He could be a viable option for Tuchel against Mexico.
In a Telegraph article by Matt Law, a third option was mentioned: “Tuchel’s options have been limited by injuries to Reece James and Jarrel Quansah, with Djed Spence chosen to start against DR Congo who scored their goal from his flank.”
Furthermore, the England manager indicated that Declan Rice is not a primary option. As Law revealed in his article, Rice has been dealing with nerve pain, and despite playing against Congo, he isn’t a realistic choice to fill in for James.
