England player ratings: Pickford’s rare slip, Kane saves Tuchel and Three Lions

Ian Watson 01 Jul 2026 8:13 PM

The England XI before being given a scare by Congo.

We accept responsibility for Jordan Pickford’s error in the close shave with DR Congo, but it might help if Thomas Tuchel introduced his defenders to one another…

Phew. That was close. Let’s all forget it and just move on to Mexico, shall we?

We can’t? Fine, here’s how the England players rated while dicing with World Cup death…

Jordan Pickford

This one is on us. Hours after publishing this staunch defence of England’s no.1, of course he was going to make us look like d*cks. Inevitably, social media was awash with ‘kEePeR cAn’T GeT BeAt aT HiS nEaR PoSt’, which is too often nonsense.

Here, though, Pickford’s subtle movements kill him. As Brian Cipenga sets himself to shoot, the curler into the far corner isn’t on. It’s always going to be driven, but Pickford needlessly anticipates incorrectly, setting slightly to his left, which is more of a problem when the feet already start outside the line of his body. From there, he can neither sweep his right foot fast enough, or get enough drive off his left.

So, yes, it’s an error but not just because the ball squeezed in at the near post. Can we kill that cliche now, please? There will be calls for Pickford to be dropped – like this on an X timeline not a million miles from here – which is, of course, utter nonsense.

Djed Spence

Spence was the England defender most obviously exposed for the Congo’s goal but there’s plenty of blame to go around. When Chancel Mbemba gets his head down to play the pass that is eventually credited as an assist, we want Spence inside quicker and closer to his centre-backs to stop that run inside him. If he is, the pass to switch play has to go in the air, and though the overload is still a problem, England’s defence should have time to move across. Instead, Spence can’t react in anything other than a panicked fashion from the middle of a two-versus-one.

Overall, Spence battled gamely going both ways, but the fact England are left with Spurs’ second-choice left-back as their starting right-back is a terrible oversight.

Marc Guehi

As the senior member of England’s back four, its shakiness doesn’t reflect well on Guehi, over whom Tuchel had enough doubts to make him sit on the bench at the start of the tournament. Tuchel spoke of ‘connections’ in defence, but these four still look like strangers. Which is understandable to a point, especially given the palaver around the full-backs, but Guehi and Konsa are a long way from gelling together, as evidenced in the first half when Yoane Wissa wandered in unmarked to hit the post.

Ezri Konsa

The only centre-back to start all four games but Konsa has looked shakiest of them all. England’s first-half performance was summed by Konsa going desperately close to scoring by having the ball hit him while flatfooted around a dire set-piece delivery. The concern, though, is around Konsa and his primary function. Whether he’s played next to Guehi or John Stones, they all look like strangers. Tuchel clearly fancies him most but Konsa is testing the manager’s loyalty.

Nico O’Reilly

Now we come to O’Reilly in the inquest into the opener. We didn’t like his position way outside the line of the ball when Mbemba was weighing up his options before. England want that pass to go wide, then they all shuffle across. Instead, Konsa and Guehi had to move too far to the left to fill the space left O’Reilly, leaving Spence exposed. O’Reilly spent more time driving inside and forward as England got desperate but was little more effective than occupying a defender in the box.

Declan Rice

Rice’s best work came from right-back. Which isn’t a sentence we thought we’d be writing this summer, but here we are. That’s in part due to the run inside he made to pierce the Congo defence in the build up to the equaliser, but also because he didn’t seem to know his role in midfield. Tuchel said pre-match that England had to be ‘careful in our structure when we attack’ to deny the counter, but neither Rice nor Anderson really seemed sure of their focus. Both seemed caught in two minds, rarely ever the right one. Even his set-piece delivery, especially free-kicks, was poor. The lad desperately needs a break but England cannot be without him.

Elliot Anderson

Same story as Rice, really. Could he have dropped a little deeper into the backline when it was stretched across the pitch for Congo’s goal? Possibly. But Anderson doesn’t make even the top five culprits there. Weirdly, the improving quality of opposition might help Anderson and Rice perfect the balance in midfield because the screening job becomes more important, and the attacking onus isn’t necessarily on them in the same way.

Jude Bellingham

Until Kane was given a sniff, Bellingham was easily the most likely to bail England out of the mire, as he has been all tournament. The no.10 lost his personal running battle with Lionel Mpasi, who saved two free headers in the first half, but it was Bellingham’s run and shot, blocked again by the keeper, that got Congo’s defence bent out of shape, allowing for Kane to swivel and shoot in the winner moments later.

Bellingham, though, was among the most frustrated when things looked a lot less rosy, picking up a daft caution for a rash tackle after his poor pass on the break. At that point, Bellingham and England needed to calm down and reset, rather than spiral as they did.

Noni Madueke

Madueke at least didn’t limit himself to only coming inside, with his best moments coming on the outside, especially when he teed up Rashford on 35 minutes. But once his marker understood Madueke wasn’t limited to the inside line, he had to back off and give the Arsenal stand-in room to deliver on his strong side. Which he did. Once. But Bellingham’s header, like everything else at that point, was saved by the Yashin regen in the Congo net.

Marcus Rashford

Way off it, as if being custard pied by Barcelona has drained all the confidence he found in Catalunya. At least Madueke sussed that he can go either way out wide to outfox a full-back – the penny is yet to drop with Rashford. Even on his strong side, his crossing was poor again. Rashford hit Wan-Bissaka on the line with England’s best chance in the first half, and drove his only sight of goal in the second half into the side netting, illustrating again a lack of potency on his left foot. Which is a problem when you insist on being a left winger.

Harry Kane

Thank all the f***s for England’s greatest-ever goalscorer. For the most part, this was another frustrating outing for Kane, especially when denied a stick-on penalty late in the first half, until Gordon finally delivered a smidgen of decent service. His first was a poacher’s finish; the second a GOAT’s. Ballon d’Or, Ballon d’Or, Ballon d’Or!

Substitutes

Anthony Gordon (for Marcus Rashford, 60)

Seemed to have lost the battle for England’s left wing but now back in front, partly because of Rashford’s ineffectiveness, but simply because he leaves Atlanta with two assists. Neither were genius or complex but they don’t have to be. The second looked simplest – a short pass into Kane from which the skipper still had to do all the work – but Gordon chose the forward pass around a corner instead of just playing square and wide.

Bukayo Saka (for Noni Madueke, 60)

Tuchel said pre-match that Saka would be one of his finishers today, which is a positive spin on an increasingly worrying situation with the Arsenal winger. Saka is limping through this World Cup, hoping to be on hand for the odd moment. Ideally an 89th-minute tap-in to win the final, but without the quality and intensity he brings on the right when fit, England are a lot less likely to get anywhere close.