{"id":512732,"date":"2026-06-26T21:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/512732\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T21:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:11:16","slug":"englands-reece-james-ruled-out-for-at-least-two-games-with-hamstring-injury-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/512732\/","title":{"rendered":"England\u2019s Reece James ruled out for at least two games with hamstring injury | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reece James will miss England\u2019s next two World Cup matches at least as he fights to recover from a hamstring injury. The right-back, who has a history of hamstring problems, reported tightness after the team\u2019s 0-0 draw against Ghana in Boston<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Chelsea captain did not train with the squad in Kansas City on Friday before their flight to New York, where they will play Panama in their final group phase game on Saturday. He will sit that one out and also the last-32 tie which could follow.<\/p>\n

James hurt his hamstring playing for Chelsea against Newcastle on 14 March and was out for nearly two months. Thomas Tuchel considers him as his first-choice right-back and he was always going to rely on him at the World Cup<\/a>. He used him for 90 minutes against Croatia and Ghana.<\/p>\n

Yet there was always an element of risk about the situation given how James has to have his minutes managed and the congested nature of the World Cup. England<\/a> hope to play eight matches in 33 days during their stay in North America.<\/p>\n

Quick GuidePanama players clash in training before England gameShow<\/p>\n

Panama\u2019s preparations for their World Cup clash with England on Saturday were marred by a training-camp row between two players \u2013 although their coach insisted it was ‘a good sign’ that his side are ‘alive’ for the game.<\/p>\n

Cecilio Waterman and Jos\u00e9 Luis Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> appeared to clash during a pre-match training session.\u00a0Waterman was filmed pushing fellow forward Rodr\u00edguez in the chest, and was then held back by teammates as he looked to continue the argument.\u00a0Things quickly calmed down as the open training session resumed.<\/p>\n

‘This is a normal situation,’ the Panama coach, Thomas Christiansen, said later.<\/p>\n

‘I would have liked to see these situations more often in training,’ he added. ‘That means the team is alive, they are willing to make an effort to be in the squad or first XI for the game. So, again, if this happens another time, it\u2019s a good sign.’<\/p>\n

Panama are already out of knockout contention after losing their first two Group L games, and close their campaign against Thomas Tuchel\u2019s side in New Jersey. ‘It\u2019s a shame, as before \u200bthis fixture we are already out,’ said Christiansen, who criticised the use of head-to-head tie-breakers at this tournament. \u200cPA Media\/AP<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Tuchel had selected Tino Livramento as his backup right-back only to lose the Newcastle player on the eve of the tournament to a calf injury in training. The manager responded by calling up the Chelsea centre-half Trevoh Chalobah and saying that Jarell Quansah \u2013 a central defender by trade \u2013 could cover at right-back. Tuchel\u2019s other options at right-back are Ezri Konsa \u2013 also a centre-half \u2013 and Djed Spence.<\/p>\n

He opted against calling up the Real Madrid right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, a player that he does not appear to trust. Tuchel has only selected Alexander-Arnold for one camp \u2013 in June of last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reece James will miss England\u2019s next two World Cup matches at least as he fights to recover from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-512732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}