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England injury report: Declan Rice, Reece James join Three Lions growing list of key injuries before knockouts

· Yahoo Sports

England injury report: Declan Rice, Reece James join Three Lions growing list of key injuries before knockouts originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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As England prepares to play its final group stage match of the tournament, the team is dealing with several key injuries.

The Three Lions still have yet to clinch their group, and since their draw with Ghana have been forced to manage a few injuries during practice. Key players like Declan Rice and Reece James are important pieces of teh team who aren't at 100 percent at this point in the tournament.

While England shouldn't have too much trouble with Panama, these injuries could force this into a closer match if the team is not at full strength. Still, England has eyes on a bigger prize than just winning the group, which will play into how manager Thomas Tuchel deploys his lineup on Saturday.

Here's the latest on England's injuries in the World Cup.

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England injury report

Declan Rice

Rice left England's game against Ghana with a calf injury and missed practice after, but he should be able to play in England's final group stage match against Panama. Rice was able to practice on Friday, a sign that he will be able to go on Saturday afternoon.

Reece James

After playing in each of England's first two matches, James suffered a hamstring injury that will keep him out of Saturday's match. However, the team doesn't believe it is a long-term issue.

"Reecey has a minor hamstring issue," manager Thomas Tuchel said, via ESPN. "He was not able to train the last two days. He is now in an accelerated rehabilitation program. We take it game by game but we strongly believe he will be available for us in the tournament."

Tuchel did say that James' availability for England's first group stage match would be a close call and dependent on how James feels.

Elliot Anderson

Anderson started for England in its first two matches, but came out of the second match with muscle soreness. Thomas Tuchel said Anderson is available to start against Panama, but it's unclear if that will be the case or how much Anderson will play.

"They both had minor issues after the match but had enough time to recover," Tuchel said about both Anderson and Rice. "So everyone but Reece James is available and ready to go. But we will take the decision tonight."

Ben White

England is missing two key players for the World Cup due to injuries that occurred before the tournament. Defenseman Ben White suffered a knee injury in May while playing for Arsenal, forcing England to keep him off the roster. 

Tino Livramento

In a practice before the World Cup began, defender Tino Livramento injured his calf and had to be replaced on England's roster. Livramento's recovery time is about six weeks, at which point the World Cup will be over. 

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Cape Verde's magical World Cup run continues after draw with Saudi Arabia. Next up? Lionel Messi and Argentina

· Yahoo Sports

Seconds after tying Saudi Arabia 0-0 on Friday night, players from Cape Verde, the third-smallest nation to ever play in the World Cup, huddled around a phone and waited for the end of Spain's win over Uruguay to go final for the dream to be real.

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Would the biggest underdog story of the 2026 World Cup continue for at least one more game?

The answer was yes. And, somehow, Cape Verde is now an even bigger underdog.

Thanks to a group stage campaign that included no wins and — most importantly — no losses, Cape Verde finished second in Group H to Spain on Friday night. The three points Cape Verde earned from its three draws were enough to beat Uruguay, the inaugural World Cup winners, and Saudi Arabia, the country that upset Lionel Messi and Argentina to open the 2022 World Cup.

Now officially the smallest nation to make the knockout rounds of the World Cup, Cape Verde has captured the world's attention over the past two weeks. And, somehow, it'll be on an even bigger stage on July 3, when it meets Messi and Argentina in Miami in the Round of 32.

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Yes, making the knockout rounds of the World Cup is easier than ever this year. The tournament was expanded from 32 to 48 and the knockout round field size was doubled from 16 to 32.

But it's not like Cape Verde has snuck through to the Round of 32 as a third-place team in an easy group. After all, it tied Spain 0-0 to open the World Cup as goalkeeper Vozinha became the first breakout star of the tournament.

Cape Verde manager Bubista is lifted into the air after his team qualified for the Round of 32 at the World Cup.Michael Regan - FIFA via Getty Images

Vozinha made seven saves in that draw as Spain attempted 27 shots and had the ball nearly 75% of the time. If you go by the expected goals metric, which calculates how many goals a team could have scored based on the quality of its chances, Spain should have scored at least twice.

Before the game, Vozinha had 50,000 Instagram followers. He's now about to hit 17 million. And, most importantly, his mother was able to travel to the United States to see her son play after she was unable to be at the first game.

Vozinha's fame isn't the only improbable path on the team, either. Center back Roberto Lopes, who plays just ahead of Vozinha in defense, was recruited to the team via LinkedIn. And it took multiple messages for Lopes to take that recruitment seriously.

Former manager Rui Águas sent Lopes a message in 2018 inquiring about his interest in playing for Cape Verde. Lopes' father is from Cape Verde and he hadn't yet represented a country internationally.

However, the message was in Portuguese, so Lopes ignored it since he didn't speak it. Months later, Águas sent another one in English.

In 2019, Lopes made his Cape Verde debut.

Though Cape Verde's worldwide rise has been meteoric, it's been building for years in Africa. In 2022, Cape Verde missed out on the final round of African qualifying by just two points after finishing well off the pace in 2018.

Ahead of 2026, Cape Verde took care of business before the playoffs began. With group winners automatically advancing to the World Cup, Cape Verde outscored eight-time World Cup participant Cameroon by four points in its group.

But African sides have long been overlooked in the World Cup. In 2022, Morocco became the first team from the continent to make the semifinals and just the fourth country to make a quarterfinal appearance.

This year, as many as eight African teams can qualify for the Round of 32.

Cape Verde's chances of matching Morocco or even Cameroon, Ghana or Senegal as a quarterfinalist are incredibly slim. After all, Messi is still playing like one of the best players in the world and Argentina looks primed for another deep tournament run. But that's something to worry about a week from now.

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Minnesota school board member under fire after saying dogs should urinate on ‘White corpses’ in cemeteries

· NY Post

Allen is facing federal felony charges in connection with the Jan. 18 invasion of Cities Church in St. Paul where she was part of an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest where she and others stormed the church during services.

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