Jordan Pickford believes England have the attacking firepower and mindset to hurt Argentina in the World Cup semi-final in Atlanta on Wednesday03:39, 14 Jul 2026Updated 03:39, 14 Jul 2026Argentina may have Lionel Messi but Jordan Pickford believes the reigning World Cup champions should worry about red-hot Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and England's unbreakable dogged mentality.‌While the 39-year-old veteran is the joint leading goalscorer at this World Cup (eight) alongside France captain Kylian Mbappe, the Three Lions also have huge firepower in their ranks with electric Bellingham, in particular, in the form of his life.‌Pickford said: "I'll talk about Messi because he's one of the goats of the game but you can't look past the ability and the talent we've got in the squad going forward, defensively, togetherness. We've got it all there and that's what we need to put on show on Wednesday.‌"We also can't just talk about Messi. They're a good side and they're reigning champions, so yeah, they're a good side but we've got so much ability in our squad going forward and we're also hard to break down."We've got that resilience, we've got that togetherness and we've got that mentality. That's what makes a good team."It's no secret that Thomas Tuchel wasn't best pleased with certain aspects of England's display against Norway in Miami.‌However, Pickford sees value in the fact England still have levels to climb, even though they are already World Cup semi-finalists.He continued: "Like the manager said, the mentality we have in abundance and the togetherness we have but we're not the finished article."We always want to improve. We're in the semi-final. We always want to keep improving as a team.‌"The cream rises to the top and we'll always keep working harder to keep improving."You don't want to just think the job's done against Norway and we've got to improve for the next game and the next game after that.‌"So yes, there's always improvement in football and you always want to drive improvement as well from yourself as an individual point of view and togetherness as a team point of view."That said, Pickford does not want England to take a last-four spot and box-office clash with Argentina for granted.He knows that these showpiece games do not come around often, despite reaching the semi-finals in Russia eight years ago.‌The 32-year-old, now his country's all-time record World Cup appearance holder continued: "It's a great honour. We're reaching targets that we want to reach."We're reaching levels that we want to reach and we want to keep pushing. We know the end goal, but we always take it step by step."The first chapter was to get through the group stage. The manager mentioned about going through the grind of Mexico and Congo.Article continues belowWe know every game is a challenge, now our next challenge is Argentina and we'll be set up and ready for them. It feels special, but also it's a job."Get the latest World Cup news straight to your inbox by signing up to our Make Football Great Again newsletter now!Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.