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England boss Tuchel believes Scott can challenge Rice for starting midfield spot

RE

Reuters

Published 2 hours ago

England manager Thomas Tuchel said Declan ⁠Rice faces competition for his midfield spot after Alex Scott ‌delivered an impressive performance on his first ‌international start in Saturday's 7-0 ‌thrashing of Croatia.

[p]With [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rice-declan/zkQ8Cm6n/"]Rice[/a] having withdrawn ‌from the squad, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/bournemouth/OtpNdwrc/"]Bournemouth[/a]'s [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/scott-alex/boFdbMyt/"]Scott[/a] ‌featured in midfield alongside [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/anderson-elliott/KdYCbsbE/"]Elliot Anderson[/a] for the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/croatia-K8aznggo/england-j9N9ZNFA/?mid=p8cVmcQ9"]Nations League match[/a], and ‌the pair dictated play ⁠despite being ‌up against Croatian veterans [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/modric-luka/bZWyoJnA/"]Luka Modric[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kovacic-mateo/4f084TL7/"]​Mateo Kovacic[/a].[/p][p]When asked if [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/arsenal/hA1Zm19f/"]Arsenal[/a]'s Rice might be worried ​about his place in the team, Tuchel told reporters: [b]"Of course, and ⁠he does, ​we need performances like this.[/b][/p][p][b]"This is just the nature of it. We will not survive on two ‌central midfielders.[/b][/p][image alt="England's Nations League results" id="6a38abf0-4e82-4f5a-bef0-0ab1b968c098" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="f14fb63a-7d7d-4d4b-bcd6-f17fd2283dd3" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p][b]"Declan knows about his importance, and he's one of the very best midfielders in Europe.[/b][/p][p][b]"Nothing will change that. But it's exactly what we need. We need more, more, more, more variety. We need more, more, more ‌options. Then it's always about ​the guys who are in camp. ‌Alex was in the highest level."[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/england/j9N9ZNFA/"]England[/a], second in their group behind World Cup winners [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/spain/bLyo6mco/"]Spain[/a], host the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/czech-republic/6LHwBDGU/"]Czech Republic[/a] at ⁠Wembley on ⁠[a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/czech-republic-6LHwBDGU/england-j9N9ZNFA/?mid=OvE4kA1E"]Tuesday[/a].[/p][infobox id="5a8fbd57-e97c-4bdc-9f6b-fb0fb254e893" /]

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