England's Reece James injured, will miss at least two World Cup games

The Chelsea right-back played all 90 minutes in the first group games despite recently suffering an injury.
Text: Javier Escribano
Published 2026-06-26

England has suffered a big blow during World Cup: Reece James has suffered a hamstring injury and will miss at least the next two matches for the Three Lions. He is Tuchel's preferred first choice for right back, and played all 90 minutes in the matches against Croatia and Ghana.

Because of this injury, suspected because he missed Friday training and already suffered during the draw against Ghana. Now, he will miss the match against Panama on Saturday, at 22:00 BST, 23:00 CEST, and the round of 32 match, and Tuchel may use Trevoh Chalobah, Jarrel Quansah, Ezri Konsa, or Djed Spence after his other preferred right-back, Tino Livramento, also got injured and left the World Cup before their opening match.

James suffered an injury when playing with Chelsea against Newcastle in March, and was out for nearly two months. He returned in time for World Cup, but it was always risky to have him playing all minutes for potentially eight matches in 33 years, as reports The Guardian.

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