England are preparing for one of their toughest World Cup challenges ever.
After beating DR Congo in the 2026 World Cup's Round of 32 earlier this week, the Three Lions will now play co-hosts Mexico at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on Monday in a mammoth Last 16 tie.
Nearly all of the pre-match talk is on the Azteca's sky-high altitude which will see the England players play 2,240m above sea level, but Thomas Tuchel has an even greater problem to contend with.
After controversially leaving Real Madrid's Trent Alexander-Arnold at home and seeing Tino Livramento suffer a cruel last minute injury, Tuchel has been forced to rely on Reece James and Djed Spence as his only natural right-sided full-backs.
The Chelsea captain played the full 90 minutes against Croatia and Ghana before picking up a hamstring injury which forced him to miss the country's last two matches. Jarrel Quansah filled in in the 26-year-old's place against Panama but an ankle knock saw him ruled out last time too.
The pair are now facing a race against time to be fit enough to be included against Mexico, and although it'll go down to the wire, Tuchel has finally received some good news.
England given Reece James injury boost ahead of Mexico clash
Although James did not train with the rest of the England squad on Friday, according to a recent report from talkSPORT, the results of his scan have come back positive.
The outlet claim Tuchel has been pleasantly surprised by the full-back's recovery update, suggesting he might be considering involving him against Mexico.
Quansah is still likely to be given the green light to come back before James, but the prospect of the Chelsea captain returning is a major boost, especially after it was feared his tournament was over not so long ago.
Mexico first, quarter finals next
It remains to be seen which player Tuchel will opt for at right-back against Javier Aguirre's men, but the German appears to have more options now than what he did against DR Congo.
Spence has been allowed an additional recovery session while moving Ezri Konsa over and starting John Stones alongside Marc Guehi is another option.
Should Monday's Last 16 clash come too soon for James but the Three Lions end up beating Mexico, the Chelsea defender will surely be in line to play against either Brazil or Norway in the quarter finals.
Regardless of what Monday brings though, the second England's medical team deem James fit enough to play again, the Chelsea star will go straight back into Tuchel's starting line up; proving just how important he is to the Three Lions' hopes of going all the way.
Add us as a preferred source on Google