England Ready to Go to War for Tuchel

Jordan Pickford says England are ready to “go to war” for Thomas Tuchel. It is not a throwaway line. It is the mood music around a squad that believes this World Cup can finally break 58 years of frustration.

England arrive in the last 32 after taking control of Group L, a professional 2-0 win over Panama in New Jersey sealing top spot and a smoother route through the knockouts. The stakes now rise sharply: DR Congo await, a dangerous opponent who slipped through as one of the best third-placed sides after beating Uzbekistan.

For Pickford, a survivor of the Southgate era and both of England’s recent European Championship finals, this campaign feels different.

Tuchel’s edge

Asked by BBC Sport what has changed, the Everton goalkeeper kept coming back to one word: belief.

“Belief, togetherness. I think we have had that previously, but I think the manager’s got that belief in us,” he said, drawing a clear line between the Tuchel regime and what came before.

The Germany coach has clearly struck a chord with his players. Pickford described team meetings that feel less like briefings and more like battle calls.

“The meetings the manager has with us, it is like you are ready to go to war. He puts that belief in you,” he explained. Tactical sessions, video clips, details on opponents – all wrapped in a message that this group is ready, now.

“There is different meetings he has tactically, and it is like ‘yeah, it is go time’,” Pickford added. “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.”

That sense of timing matters. This is not a young side learning on the job, nor an ageing group clinging to one last shot. It is a squad largely in its prime, hardened by near-misses and scar tissue from penalty shootouts and lost finals.

The goalkeeper’s growth

Pickford himself has become a symbol of that evolution. Once scrutinised for volatility, he now talks calmly and openly about the work going on behind the scenes to keep his edge sharp.

He continues to see a psychologist, not as a remedial step but as a performance tool. Speaking to ITV Sport, he framed it as an ongoing project rather than a quick fix.

“(It is) a lot of growth I am working on and being the best version of myself,” he said. “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.”

For a goalkeeper, those marginal gains can define a tournament. A fingertip in a knockout game, a read on a penalty taker, the calm in a chaotic final five minutes. Pickford’s track record in shootouts already gives England an edge if the tie stretches beyond 90 minutes.

He does not want it to come to that.

“We want to win it in 90”

DR Congo stand between England and a place in the last 16, and Pickford’s message ahead of the tie is simple: finish the job early, but be ready for anything.

“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 “whatever it takes” mentality runs through his assessment of the squad. The bench is stacked. The mood is strong. The belief, he insists, is real.

“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 no complacency about the opposition, either. DR Congo arrive with momentum and the kind of physical, emotional intensity that has carried several African nations into the knockouts.

“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.”

England know the history. They know the weight of the shirt. They also know opportunities like this do not come around often.

If Pickford is right, and this team really is ready to “go to war” for Tuchel, we are about to find out just how far that belief can carry them.