Declan Rice's clear 'special chance' message makes things very clear to England team-mates
England have qualified for the World Cup and Declan Rice says he and his Three Lions team-mates must believe that next summer they can land football's biggest prize, having missed out in finals in each of the last two European Championships
Declan Rice has told his England teammates they must seize their “special chance” to win the World Cup.
Arsenal star Rice, 26, believes it could be the best shot many will ever have to win the biggest prize in football in the United States next summer. England have reached the final of the last two Euros and also been to the semi final of a World Cup but Thomas Tuchel is determined to go even further next year.
Rice said: “We all need to keep pushing it, and keep being as hungry as we can. There’s a special chance in the summer. It’s come around so quickly. You don’t get these chances a lot in football.
“Going to another tournament with England is one of the biggest honours you can have in football. There’s lads who’ve been at tournaments, and there’s some lads who are experiencing it for the first time. So it’s really, really special. And there’s a lot to look forward to.
I think in the last two camps we’ve really stepped it up, you can see that with the group, with the training, with the way we’re playing on the pitch. Every camp we’ve improved. It’s been really, really good. It’s been positive, six wins.”
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Rice also believes England now have a good mix of youth and experience which brings quality together with strong competition which has grown through the last few camps.
He added: “I think we’re probably a much younger squad now. In terms of experience, probably not a lot of lads who’ve been at major tournaments. But we’ve been building something really, really special over the last few weeks.
“Everyone’s been looking forward to coming into camp. The standard of training's been really good. I think the last few games, it’s been really really good, high energy, running for each other, pressing really well, scoring lots of goals, that’s what people want to see, so it’s been really good.”
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