Former England forward Chris Sutton expects a comfortable England win. Thomas Tuchel's side has looked more fragile than Gareth Southgate's defensively, though that trade-off is one many fans appear willing to accept.
England v Ghana Kickoff
England face Ghana at 21:00 BST. A victory would put England through to the knockout stage at this World Cup.
Tuchel on Ghana's Threat
Asked about Ghana's motivation and England's own drive for the fixture, Tuchel said Ghana will not hold the motivational edge.
Bad news for Ghana; we will also be motivated. I see no reason why we wouldn't. We play on the biggest stage and we want to prove a point to ourselves. That is where we are and who we are. There is no advantage, there cannot be an
Tuchel identified Ghana's counter-attack as a primary danger and pointed to their physicality, speed, and direct style.
The counter-attack is one of the threats. They play with a lot of physicality and speed. [They have] Individual quality and they don't mind if they have less of the ball because they burst into high speed attacks and play very direct on the ball. They are not shy to use long balls.
It is a different approach to the last match but that is the beauty of it; playing different cultures and approaches to matches. It's on us to adapt and bring strength and adapt to their strengths. We need a top performance if we want to win.
Belief, Proof, and Step-by-Step Focus
Tuchel was asked to clarify what he meant by England having a point to prove.
We have to and want to prove to ourselves that we know what makes us strong. We know the capability and potential of the players. We believe and trust in this group. Tomorrow is the next game and there is no other thought in our minds. We take it step by step, as boring as this may sound, but this is the way to go.
Like I said, this is a different game to Croatia. We have to be ready. It feels like full belief and trust from my side. Let's see tomorrow.
Team News and Croatia Fallout
Asked about the team for tonight's match, Tuchel pointed to the impact substitutes made against Croatia.
We had a big influence from the subs [v Croatia] which we really appreciate and it proves how everyone buys into the idea. They came in and gave everything to decide the match.
Attack, Press, and Not Disturbing the Players
On the mindset of his attacking players, Tuchel said the group arrived with the right approach and his job is to maintain it without interfering.
I am very lucky because my players arrived with this mindset. I didn't have to get them in to it. Now it the difficulty is to keep them in the mindset. A very famous conductor said "I don't want to disturb the music and I don't want to disturb the musicians" and that is what we try and do, not disturb the players and the match, just encourage them to play with freedom, especially in attack.
It is quite impressive how the players also buy in to the idea of defending together and that is what we did in the second half [against Croatia], we pushed out constantly in to a high press. That is what we will try [against Ghana] but the game will play out it itself. We cannot predict what is happening.
I predict a bit of a different game to Croatia because of the different approach, but who knows. We have to be ready to find answers to any questions asked tomorrow.
Elsewhere at the World Cup
Defending champions Argentina beat Austria 2-0 to progress to the last 32, with Lionel Messi making history in that result. Argentina, France, and Norway have each reached the knockouts and now have potential routes to the final mapped out through the tournament bracket.
