Rice excited by England’s set-piece strength

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Declan Rice feels fans should share his excitement at England’s set-piece proficiency.

England beat Croatia 4-2 in their World Cup opener, with Harry Kane netting twice before Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford scored in Dallas.

Kane’s second goal came from a pinpoint Rice corner, with the Arsenal man delivering an outswinger straight onto the head of England’s captain.

England’s non-penalty set-piece expected goals (xG) of 1.03 topped the charts for any team across matchday one, and Rice, who ranked fourth in Europe’s top five leagues for chances created from set-pieces in 2025-26 (48), is thrilled at the Three Lions’ dead-ball strength.

“That’s a good mentality to have over set-pieces and England fans can be excited.”

— England (@England) June 20, 2026

Rice explained how his set-piece prowess has improved during his time at Arsenal.

“I wouldn’t ever take corners or set pieces, but [set-piece coach] Nico [Jover] and the manager [Mikel Arteta] at Arsenal saw something in me that others didn’t.

“They said that I can put balls in areas from a dead ball that no-one else can in the team at Arsenal other than Bukayo [Saka]. From that moment, I really just bought into that, believed in that.”

England take on Ghana in their second Group L game, with victory enough to see them clinch top spot.

Across the opening round of fixtures, only Germany (12) had more shots on target than England (11 v Croatia). 

England will be looking to win each of their opening two games at a World Cup for the fourth time, after completing the feat in 1982, 2006 and 2018. 

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