Declan Rice has promised England will go “full throttle” in Wednesday’s World Cup clash with Ghana in a bid to stop a miserable recent trend.
England opened their Group L campaign in style six days ago with a 4-2 win over Croatia, but they have an unwelcome habit of drawing their second game at major tournaments in the past few years.
In Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, they were held to goalless draws by Scotland and the United States, respectively, before drawing 1-1 with Denmark in Euro 2024.
Rice revealed captain Harry Kane has spoken to the squad ahead of the game in a sodden Boston, warning them not to let history repeat itself as they look to seal progression to the last 32 with victory.
“We are just as motivated, if not more motivated, to want to win,” Rice said.
“Harry spoke about earlier how in the last couple of tournaments, we’ve drawn the second game.
“So we want to go into the game knowing that we’re going to be full throttle, ready to go, want to win the game, and we also have the position that puts us in tomorrow.
“So we’re extremely motivated to go out and perform.”
England won the game against Croatia with a fine second-half display, which came after they were panned by assistant coach Anthony Barry in a television interview at half-time for a “confusing” performance in the opening 45 minutes.
Rice says their response has to be the “benchmark” for the rest of the tournament.
“We know as players that we have to build on the second half of the other night,” he added. “It was probably one of our best 45 minutes under Thomas.
“If I look back at the first half now, it wasn’t as bad as spoken about because of the goals we conceded.
“It probably felt worse than what it was. Looking at the opening games of the World Cup, as well, there were some opening cagey performances from a lot of nations, just because it’s the World Cup that has the feeling of being at the biggest tournament in the world.
“But we know, as players, the level that’s required, and that second-half performance was probably the benchmark for us in terms of having to start the game at that level at that tempo.
“And we believe that if we can do that from the opening minute, with the players we also have to come on and finish the game, we can beat any opponent in the world.”
Ghana, who will secure their own qualification with a win, beat Panama in their opening game and will have Rice’s former team-mate Thomas Partey available after he was denied entry into Canada following his charge of seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in London between 2020 and 2022.
Rice did not get involved in the politics of that issue, which is sure to see Partey receive a hostile reception from travelling England fans.
“I played with Thomas, he’s a really good player, but also I’ve played against a lot of the Ghana team and from the clips I know what they’re going to bring,” Rice said.
“They’re going to bring strength, pace, they’re going to want to catch us out with a counter-attack.
“We need to be ready for everything, but also having played against a lot of those players already, we know what’s going to be coming .”
