Rice: Stay positive and keep going

Jordan Pickford and Declan Rice have backed England to finish the job in Group L after the Three Lions' goalless draw with Ghana at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

England remain top of the standings with four points from their opening two matches and know a positive result against Panama on 27 June will secure first place in the group and a place in the knockout stages.

While Ghana proved difficult opponents to break down, both Pickford and Rice stressed the importance of remaining positive as attention now turns to the final group fixture, and securing a place in the Round of 32.

Pickford said: “It’s football. When you get an early goal, it opens up the game a lot more, but they played a good game and we’ve got to be happy. We’re still top of the group and we can focus on Panama now and finish strongly in the group and top it.

“Blocks, recovery runs, it was top drawer. It was hard work that sometimes people don’t see. We would love to win the game, but we’ve not lost. It’s tournament football, and it’s in our hands to top the group.”

Thomas Tuchel's side were made to work throughout by a disciplined Ghana side who defended deep and looked to threaten on the counter-attack, but the Three Lions continued to search for a breakthrough and finished the stronger of the two teams.

Rice felt England's persistence was beginning to pay off as the game entered its closing stages.

“It’s always difficult when you play against 11 behind the ball, as deep as they were," Rice said. "You’ve got to find solutions. In the last 10 minutes, we found more than we did all game and we were probably unlucky not to score.

“Stay positive and keep going. We still have a great chance to top the group against Panama, so positivity all round.

“You have to give credit to Ghana sometimes. 5-4-1 off the ball and very compact. Tight spaces to play through. Of course, on the other hand we can do a bit more with the ball and create a bit more. But it’s tough; they’re good players. It was never going to be an easy game and now we have one more in the group to finish top, so we need to be positive.

“Loads of top nations drew their first game. There’s no need to be negative or downbeat. We need to be positive and recover for the next match and that’s what we’ll do.”

Pickford also highlighted the concentration and defensive discipline required to nullify Ghana's attacking threats.

“I think we knew it was always going to be tough against Ghana," the goalkeeper said. "We knew they play counter-attacking football, but they went more 4-5-1 instead of 4-3-3. They were really hard to break down - I think we had our chances and we had to be wary of the counter-attack.

“You play different teams every game. We just didn’t get that goal. It’s as simple as that. We limited them to so many little chances and we played well, we kept going all the way to the end and never managed to get that goal, but that’s football.”

The Three Lions now head into their final Group L encounter against Panama at 10pm BST on 27 June, with top spot and qualification for the Round of 32 still firmly in their hands.