Rice says England can thrive from corners at World Cup
Rice’s corners helped England beat Croatia 4-2, and the vice-captain said each delivery now feels like an assist waiting to happen.
Declan Rice walked away from England’s opening World Cup win with a sharper sense of what his corners can do and a broader question hanging over the team: is this a durable edge or a short-term burst opponents will soon decode? In England’s 4-2 victory over Croatia in Arlington, Texas, Harry Kane scored twice, including a header from a Rice corner, and Rice said the signs were already there that England could hurt teams from dead balls.
The 27-year-old vice-captain said he feels as if he will get an assist “every time” he takes a corner, a confidence built not just on one night but on a pattern that has followed him from Arsenal into England duty. Rice became Arsenal’s designated set-piece taker in January 2024 after a mid-season training camp in Dubai, and under Mikel Arteta and set-piece coach Nico Jover he helped drive an Arsenal side that scored from a record 19 corners last season and finished with 25 set-play goals on the way to their first Premier League title in 22 years.
That Arsenal model now sits at the heart of England’s threat. Thomas Tuchel took over as England manager in January 2025, and Rice said the team has been working on set-pieces since then, with the shape of the plan in place for the past year. Because England have so little time together, tactical work has dominated sessions, and Rice said the players know exactly where his delivery will land and what they must do to create space in the box.
The scale of the threat was clear again against Croatia, when England looked dangerous from set-pieces throughout the match and Rice’s delivery helped turn control into goals. Micah Richards was among those to praise the quality after Rice produced two assists in England’s 5-0 win over Serbia in September 2025, calling the delivery “ridiculous” and saying Rice puts it on a “six pence every time.” For now, that precision gives England a repeatable route to goal at a tournament where margins are thin and knockout games often hinge on one delivery.
The harder test is whether rivals can blunt it. Rice said in May 2026 that England players have to cope with being “hated one minute and loved the next,” a reminder that pressure rises fast when expectations sit on a team chasing its first World Cup title since 1966. England’s set-piece game has been sharpened by repetition, not hype, but the deeper the tournament goes, the more every corner will invite a plan to stop it.
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