{"id":16423,"date":"2026-07-11T14:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T14:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16423"},"modified":"2026-07-11T14:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T14:47:17","slug":"thomas-tuchel-hands-chelsea-big-reece-james-world-cup-fitness-lift-read-chelsea-f-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16423","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Tuchel hands Chelsea big Reece James World Cup fitness lift\u00a0 &#8211; Read Chelsea F.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Reece James is available again for England\u2019s World Cup quarter-final against Norway after returning to team training.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas Tuchel confirmed the Chelsea defender is back in contention after missing England\u2019s last three matches with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">James\u2019 return gives England another right-back option before Saturday\u2019s tie, with Jarell Quansah suspended after his red card against Mexico.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marc Guehi is also expected to be available after fitness concerns earlier in the week. Jordan Henderson remains out with an arm injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s the best news,\u201d Tuchel said. \u201cWe had everyone available in training which we of course like.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have the full choice except for our suspended player, so that\u2019s the good news.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ReadChelsea recently covered\u00a0James\u2019 England role during the World Cup\u00a0and his return now gives Xabi Alonso a positive fitness update before pre-season planning fully sharpens.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thomas Tuchel expects Reece James to be available for England&#8217;s World Cup quarter-final against Norway on Saturday \ud83c\udff4\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc62\udb40\udc65\udb40\udc6e\udb40\udc67\udb40\udc7f<\/p>\n<p>The right-back missed the games against Panama, DR Congo and Mexico after picking up a hamstring injury against Ghana \ud83e\udd15 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8EZLlxdKWG\">pic.twitter.com\/8EZLlxdKWG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) July 6, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">James Hands Tuchel Timely England Lift<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">James\u2019 return arrives at an important point for England.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Norway have reached the last eight with real momentum, and England will need defensive security against a side built around Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Chelsea, the key detail is fitness. James has had another disrupted tournament, but his return to full training suggests the hamstring issue has settled enough for England to consider him again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tuchel also said England\u2019s win over Mexico in the last 16 was \u201ca big step\u201d, while stressing his players still have \u201ca big goal to play for\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ReadChelsea has also looked at\u00a0Malo Gusto\u2019s France run and what it means for Chelsea\u2019s right-back picture, and James\u2019 recovery adds another useful layer to that position group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">England now have a semi-final place to chase. Chelsea will be watching James\u2019 minutes closely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reece James is available again for England\u2019s World Cup quarter-final against Norway after returning to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16423","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\/16423","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=16423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}