Jordan Pickford urges England not to focus only on Lionel Messi as wider Argentina challenge looms large in 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-final

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Jordan Pickford insisted that England needed to look past Lionel Messi in their preparations for their 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-final against Argentina, despite the forward's sensational record at this summer's tournament.

'Can't solely rely on Messi' - Pickford alert to Argentina's 'other strengths'

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Messi has scored eight goals and provided two assists in La Albiceleste's opening six games, putting him a slender second behind Kylian Mbappe in the race for the Golden Boot.

It is now 12 straight matches in which Messi has directly contributed to at least one goal, even if the Inter Miami attacker failed to find the back of the net in their nail-biting win over Switzerland.

But Pickford, who surpassed Peter Shilton to become England's highest World Cup appearance-maker in the 2-1 victory over Norway, was keen to point out the panoply of threats Argentina possess.

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"He's scored so many goals and he's contributed to so many goals well over his career, and it's great to be able to finally come up against him after so long, from watching him as a kid," said Pickford.

"But we all know how good Messi is, but we also know how good Argentina is. So [they] can't just solely rely on Messi. We've got to focus on their other strengths as well, and their other weaknesses we can take advantage of.

"I've watched bits [of Argentina's matches]. We all know how good Messi is, but we also know how hardworking a team they are. It's about us England being prepared for Argentina and that's what we'll do."

Lionel Scaloni's side are the top scorers at this year's World Cup with 17 and Messi has been responsible for 47% of their haul.

Meanwhile, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, each with six, are credited with 92% of England's tally - Marcus Rashford is the nation's only other scorer thus far.

But Pickford stressed that the major strengths of Thomas Tuchel's squad lay in the intangibles: resilience, togetherness and mentality.

Pickford said: "Everyone will talk about Messi because he's one of the GOATs of the game, but we can't look past the ability and the talent we've got in the squad, going forward, defensively, togetherness.

"Going forward, defensively, togetherness, we've got it all there and that's what we need to put on show on Wednesday. But we also can't just talk about Messi.

"They're a good side and they're reigning champions. But we've got so much ability in our squad going forward and we're hard to break down. We've got that resilience. We've got that togetherness. We've got that mentality. That's what makes us a good team.

"I've watched football all my life. You know most of their players and they've got very good individuals and they're a good team. So you've got to be wary of them all."

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Having missed both of his attempted penalties at this year's tournament, one journalist at England's pre-match press conference suggested that Pickford might take heart from Messi's struggles from the spot.

But with the ex-Barcelona star scoring 114 of 148 across his career for club and country, the England keeper was not letting his recent record cloud his concentration.

"I don't know how many penalties he's taken in his career," said Pickford. "I don't think anyone in the world's got a 100% record if they're consistently taking penalties.

"I don't think for such a player like Messi that [record] will faze him. He'll just get on with it, and it's about me against him if it comes to that moment to execute my save, my dive to cancel out his penalty."

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