Jordan Pickford on England's World Cup Readiness Under Tuchel

Jordan Pickford says England are ready to “go to war” for Thomas Tuchel. It is not a throwaway line. Not on the eve of a World Cup last‑32 tie that can tilt a campaign one way or the other.

England have arrived at this point with purpose. Top of Group L, three games unbeaten, and fresh from a controlled 2-0 win over Panama in New Jersey that secured first place and a clean route into the knockouts. The old story, the one about 1966 and the long wait, hangs over everything. This group have stopped pretending it doesn’t.

Pickford has lived most of England’s modern near-misses. Two European Championship finals under Sir Gareth Southgate, a World Cup semi-final, penalty shootouts survived and lost. He has seen fragile belief harden into expectation. Now, under Tuchel, he senses a different edge.

“Belief, togetherness,” he told BBC Sport, when asked what separates this run from the others. England have talked about those things before, of course. This time, Pickford pins it directly to the man in charge. “I think we have had that previously, but I think the manager’s got that belief in us.”

Tuchel’s impact, as the goalkeeper tells it, is not subtle. It is psychological, tactical, and relentless. The meetings are not just briefings; they are ignition points.

“The meetings the manager has with us, it is like you are ready to go to war,” Pickford said. “He puts that belief in you. There is different meetings he has tactically, and it is like ‘yeah, it is go time’.”

That phrase – “go time” – has become a kind of internal slogan. It fits the mood. This is a squad, Pickford insists, pulled into the same lane, at the right moment in their careers.

“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.”

Behind the public bravado sits a quieter project. Pickford has not stood still. The Everton goalkeeper continues to work closely with a psychologist, an investment in the marginal gains that can decide tournaments – a fingertip on a penalty, a decision to hold or punch under pressure, the calm to reset after a mistake.

Speaking to ITV Sport, he described it as a long-term process rather than a quick fix. “(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.”

The journey now runs straight into DR Congo in the last 32, a tie that will test England’s composure as much as their quality. Congo arrive as one of the best third‑placed finishers, lifted by a crucial win over Uzbekistan on Saturday. They are dangerous, awkward, and playing with the freedom of a side that has already upset expectations.

Knockout football narrows everything. One bad half, one lapse, and a tournament can vanish. For Pickford, the equation remains simple: settle it early.

“We want to win the game in 90 minutes,” he told ITV. No talk of managing minutes, no hint of playing for the lottery. “But we will [be] ready as a team, as a group, as England to do what it takes to get the victory.”

If it does stretch beyond normal time, few in this England side carry more responsibility than the man in goal. His penalty record is a safety net the squad trusts. Pickford, though, frames it as a collective weapon, not a personal party trick.

“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.”

There is respect, too, for what lies across the halfway line. DR Congo are not arriving as tourists.

“We are here to do the job,” Pickford said. “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 is the tone now: respectful, but unapologetically aggressive. England have their manager, their message, and their moment. The question is no longer whether they believe. It is whether anyone can stop a team that has decided it is finally “go time.”