Jordan Pickford: England Ready to Fight for Thomas Tuchel
Jordan Pickford says England are ready to “go to war” for Thomas Tuchel. It is not a throwaway line. Not from a goalkeeper who has lived every twist of England’s recent near-misses and still believes the story ends with silver.
Fresh from a controlled 2-0 win over Panama in New Jersey that sealed top spot in Group L, England step into the World Cup last 32 with DR Congo in their path and 1966 still hanging over every generation that follows. The stakes are familiar. The mood, Pickford insists, is not.
Tuchel’s England, a different edge
Pickford has been here before. European Championship finals under Sir Gareth Southgate, penalty shootouts, the constant swirl of expectation and doubt. Through it all, he has been one of England’s constants, one of the loudest voices in the dressing room and one of the calmest in the chaos of a shootout.
Asked by BBC Sport what separates this campaign from the others that promised so much, the Everton goalkeeper didn’t reach for tactics or formations. He went straight to the core.
“Belief, togetherness. I think we have had that previously, but I think the manager’s got that belief in us,” he said.
That word keeps coming back: belief. Under Tuchel, it sounds different. It sounds sharper.
Pickford lifted the lid on the manager’s approach in the meeting room, where the tone is set long before anyone walks down a tunnel.
“The meetings the manager has with us, it is like you are ready to go to war. He puts that belief in you. There is different meetings he has tactically, and it is like ‘yeah, it is go time’.”
Those sessions, detailed and intense, have clearly landed. This is not a squad drifting into the knockouts on reputation or habit. It is one that feels handpicked and primed.
“We all want the same goal, we all want that end goal and this squad he has picked, we are all in good spirits and all in good moments in our career,” Pickford added.
Tuchel has brought his trademark edge and detail. England’s players sound like they have bought in completely.
The mind game behind the gloves
For all the talk of collective spirit, Pickford’s own journey runs alongside England’s. The mistakes he has cut out, the big saves that now feel routine, the way he carries pressure like it belongs to him.
None of that, he admits, happens by accident.
The 30-year-old continues to work closely with a psychologist, a decision he frames not as a sign of fragility but as a weapon. A way of sharpening the mind for the moments that decide tournaments.
Speaking to ITV Sport, he opened up on that process: “(It is) a lot of growth I am working on and being the best version of myself. We have got targets, who I am working with, and it is about being the best version of me and where that can take me. We know the journey it can take me on, and believing in that, and being me.”
It is a glimpse into the modern England set-up. Mental preparation sits alongside set-piece routines and pressing triggers. For a goalkeeper whose every touch in a knockout game is magnified, that work may prove as important as any save.
DR Congo next, no appetite for drama
Now comes DR Congo in the last 32, one of the best third-placed qualifiers after their win over Uzbekistan. On paper, England are favourites. On the pitch, knockout football does not care.
Pickford knows his reputation. The penalty specialist. The man who stares down opponents from 12 yards and often wins. But his first instinct is to keep this tie well away from that stage.
“We want to win the game in 90 minutes, but we will be ready as a team, as a group, as England to do what it takes to get the victory,” he told ITV.
That readiness covers everything. Extra-time. Penalties. Fresh legs off the bench. The language is clear: no excuses, no surprises.
“If it goes to penalties, extra-time, we have got the ability, we have got the lads to come off the bench, our togetherness is a high level and that is what we are here to do.”
The respect for DR Congo is genuine. African nations have already made their presence felt at this tournament, and England know the physical and emotional intensity that awaits.
“We are here to do the job. We know Congo is a tough nation, we know how many teams in Africa have qualified for the next round of games. They are a proud nation, and we have got to be ready for what they bring – but it is also about what we bring as a group, and we will be right after them.”
That last line is pure Pickford: defiant, confrontational, utterly certain.
England arrive at the knockouts with a manager who talks like a general, a goalkeeper who sounds ready for the front line, and a squad that believes its moment is now.
The war they are talking about starts with DR Congo. How far it takes them will define this generation.
