Pickford expects England to thrive in the knockouts

JORDAN Pickford is ready to deliver more penalty shootout heroics and expects England to “thrive” in the knockout stages of the World Cup.

- SIMON PEACH

Thomas Tuchel’s side booked a last-32 meeting with the Democratic Republic of Congo after beating Panama 2-0 in New York to top Group L on Saturday.

They begin what they hope will be a five-match journey to glory back in the MetLife Stadium in three weeks.

Tuchel predicted before the tournament that England might need a penalty shootout to advance, and in Pickford, they have a man who can, having made big penalty saves at the 2018 World Cup and 2020 and 2024 European Championships.

“You’ve got to be prepared. It’s tournament football and we prepare ourselves, we push ourselves 110 per cent,” he said.

“Everyone is good at penalties and that’s the standard we set and the confidence we put in each other.

“It’s my job to make the saves and in tournaments, time and time before, I’ve always come up with a save in a shootout for England and I’ll hopefully continue that.

“It’s all about belief and believing in each other and that’s what we do, no matter if it’s in training or the game.

“We believe in each other, there’s that confidence and they have confidence I can save a penalty and I have confidence they can score them. But we want to be winning the game, we don’t want to go to penalties.”