Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that Jarell Quansah and Reece James will both miss England’s World Cup round-of-32 game with DR Congo due to injuries.Quansah, 23, was forced off after an hour during England’s group-stage victory over Panama on Saturday after sustaining an ankle injury. James missed that game with a hamstring issue.Neither trained with the rest of the squad on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s match in Atlanta.Djed Spence will be the likeliest replacement on the right side of defence with Ezri Konsa, who has started every game so far in the centre of defence, the only other fit alternative in the squad.“They’re getting closer and closer, I saw both on the pitch,” Tuchel told his news conference on Tuesday. “In the nature of the injury Jarell is a bit ahead of Reecey, the race was close even to make it into my squad this time. We need to make sure we have more matches, that is main focus. They will be available soon.
“First of all, I trust my players, seen then for weeks, I picked them, that’s what football is all about. You have injuries, it’s not worth to be too long upset about it, focus on the problem, find solutions. It’s a team sport.“We’d love to have Reece with us, we’d love to have Jarell with us. But they’re injured at the moment so other players will step up. We will push this over the line tomorrow as a team, no matter what happens.”Chelsea defender James will again be absent for England (Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)Quansah made his first start of the tournament against Panama, with James having been the right-back of choice for the games against Croatia and Ghana.England had already lost deputy right-back Tino Livramento to a calf injury on the eve of the tournament, with centre-back Trevoh Chalobah called up as his replacement.Quansah was replaced by Spence for the final half an hour against Panama, with the Tottenham Hotspur full-back being deployed at both left-back and right-back over the course of the World Cup group stage.Quansah joined Leverkusen from Liverpool last summer and made his senior England debut the following November. He has been capped four times.Jun 30, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms
