‘A pinch me moment’ – Rice on captaining England for 50th cap

Declan Rice admitted he was left “speechless” after being named England captain for Tuesday's friendly against Belgium at Wembley.

The Arsenal midfielder will mark his 50th cap by leading Gareth Southgate's side in their latest outing before naming his 23-man squad for Euro 2024 on May 16.

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“To be honest with you, I'm speechless,” Rice said Monday before the game. “I am absolutely at a loss for words. When he [Southgate] said to me last night “you're going to be captain”, I gave him a hug, shook his hand and said “thank you very much”. I owe him a lot.

“Since I came to the team, he has always made me feel at home. I have always felt very comfortable playing under him. I have really gained confidence so on occasion of my 50th cap, to come out at Wembley in front of my family, my friends, it's an absolute honor, I think you can see my face, I'm speechless.

“I think I've grown a lot as a player and as a person since I came into the squad at 19. I was probably a bit of a nervous player when I first came into the team. 'England, but over time I've played more Premier League games, more games at higher levels, big major tournaments.

“I think I grew up in this team. I enjoyed every moment. Fifty caps is a moment that pinches me.”

Rice's elevation is partly down to a squad decimated by injuries as Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire and Sam Johnstone became the latest trio to withdraw on Sunday.

Harry Kane, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James and Kieran Trippier are among the long list of absentees, which has limited Southgate's options and the Euros' proximity to the Champions League final – to just 13 days apart – could further complicate the situation. at the end of the season.

“Our plan [this summer] You still need to give the players psychological time to recover, which is the most important aspect at this time of year,” said Southgate, who confirmed that Ivan Toney was ready to lead the United attack. England against Belgium in the absence of Kane.

“We are always careful about how we manage players and again we have to adapt our plans to whatever happens.

“We have already had clubs in the final of the Champions League. Last year we had a World Cup with only four or five days of preparation. It is more and more difficult at international level, but we We have to make the best possible decisions with the hand we have.

“[Now] It's up to us to make the best possible decisions with the players we have. You can't worry about what we don't have. You need to go forward. There are many different reasons for these injuries.

“I think it's more complex than just thinking about a winter World Cup, but frankly every individual situation is different. It's an incredible number of things that are not accessible to us — I haven't experienced this before — but like I said, I said earlier, it means there are opportunities for other people.

“We saw against Brazil people step up and take those opportunities, which is great for us as well.”

Another player currently unavailable for Southgate is Ben White, who has told the Football Association he does not want to be selected.

Southgate said he was unclear on the precise reasons. Sources told ESPN that White was reluctant to be part of the team due to the fallout from a disagreement with assistant coach Steve Holland during the 2022 World Cup – something Southgate publicly denies – which contributed to the 26-year-old leaving Qatar earlier than expected at the 2022 World Cup.

Rice hopes his Arsenal teammate returns to the team in the future. He told BBC Radio 5Live: “Obviously, Ben, if you know him as a person and as a player like I do, he's such a good guy. He's such a good guy and he's a footballer amazing.

“Gareth dealt with it this week, talked about it. We obviously didn't go to the training grounds, so I didn't talk about it one-on-one with Ben.

“It's hard to really know what's going on. Obviously Ben has made that decision. He obviously doesn't want to play for England at the moment. Gareth has had a conversation with him about it and I can't not much else. really tell him.

“Playing for England is the biggest honor you can have, so I hope that with the quality he has and the quality he can bring to this team, we can bring him back .”