‘It was good vibes in there’ – Stones on viral prankFigure caption, England win thriller against Mexico to reach quarter-finalsPublished59 minutes agoIt was one of the viral moments from England’s 3-2 victory over Mexico.
A glimpse inside the Three Lions’ changing room showed manager Thomas Tuchel clapping along to the post-match tunes, before halting his celebrations in concern as Declan Rice flags that defender John Stones has injured his shoulder.
Or so the boss thinks.
But Stones, who’d been holding his shoulder and flexing his arm in apparent discomfort, then starts pumping his fist towards the ceiling as the drop kicks in – to cheers from his team-mates and the obvious relief of Tuchel.
A bouncing Tuchel then pogos over to the 32-year-old to give him a hug and a viral moment is born, clocking up more than 40m views on social media.
“It’s feeling better now, it’s feeling better – it has its ups and downs,” joked Stones when asked about his shoulder during an interview with England’s in-house media.
The prank came after midfielder Jordan Henderson suffered a freak injury as he fell while jumping over the advertising hoardings following the match.
Stones added: “I tried to keep a straight face as I was doing it because I saw he [Tuchel] was concerned and thinking, ‘has he actually hurt himself?’.
“Especially after what Hendo had just done outside, he didn’t know what was going to come but it was good vibes in there.
“I didn’t think it would get that much traction to be fair.”
Stones, who started England’s opening 4-2 win against Croatia and made a last-minute appearance in the 2-1 win over DR Congo, came on with just over half an hour to play against Mexico when winger Bukayo Saka was sacrificed following Jarrel Quansah’s red card.
England play Norway in the quarter-finals in Miami on Saturday (22:00 BST).
