{"id":16182,"date":"2026-07-10T20:49:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T20:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16182"},"modified":"2026-07-10T20:49:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T20:49:23","slug":"chelsea-star-returns-to-training-before-world-cup-qf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16182","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea star returns to training before World Cup QF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/NewsArticle\">\n<!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<h6>News<span> \u00bb <\/span>Premier League news<span> \u00bb <\/span>Chelsea news<\/h6>\n<p class=\"articletimestamp\">July 10, 2026 21:17 GMT (UK), by <!-- Author Start -->Sri Aswin<!-- Author End -->\n<\/p>\n<h6>View Chelsea summer 2026 transfer targets<\/h6>\n<div style=\"float:right\">\n<figure>\n<p class=\"article_image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eyefootball.com\/imghold\/largestReece_James_2024.jpg\" title=\"Reece James news\" alt=\"Reece James news\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/p><figcaption><em itemprop=\"articleSection\">James fit for England duty?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span itemprop=\"articleBody\"><br \/>\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size:16px\">\n<strong>Chelsea right-back <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Reece James<\/span><\/span>  has returned to full training ahead of England&#8217;s World Cup quarter-final against Norway tomorrow.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- responsive_ad --><\/p>\n<p>The Blues captain picked up a hamstring injury earlier in the group stage, and his absence has left a notable gap over the past few games.<\/p>\n<p>Jarrel Quansah started at right-back against Mexico last time around, but he picked up a straight red card shortly after the half-time break.<\/p>\n<p>England tried to appeal the decision earlier this week, but it was unsuccessful. Quansah will now serve a two-game World Cup suspension.<\/p>\n<p>James has now returned to full training with his teammates, and it remains to be seen whether manager <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Thomas Tuchel<\/span><\/span>  picks him from the off.<\/p>\n<p><span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Djed Spence<\/span><\/span>  would be a frontrunner to start if James is not fully fit.<\/p>\n<p>Spence came off the bench against Mexico for the Three Lions. He was lauded by his teammates for putting in a strong defensive shift.<\/p>\n<p>England will start off as favourites against Norway.<br \/><!-- Article End --><\/p>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <!-- newadv --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\nvar js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0);\nif (d.getElementById(id)) return;\njs = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\njs.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\nfjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News \u00bb Premier League news \u00bb Chelsea news July 10, 2026 21:17 GMT (UK), by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}