Jordan Henderson reveals exactly what his England role will be at the World Cup

Jordan Henderson expects to help England’s World Cup 2026 cause whether he makes it onto the pitch or not this summer.

The Brentford midfielder’s call-up was questioned by many, but Thomas Tuchel has underlined the importance of the 35-year-old’s presence in the camp.

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Henderson comes with experience of six major tournaments, despite being left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for Euro 2024, and he’s determined to have a positive impact on his Three Lions teammates.

“[I try to] be myself,” Henderson told talkSPORT’s Faye Carruthers, “regardless of whether I’m playing games or I’m not – whatever it is, just come and be myself.

“And that’s all I’ve ever tried to do – help the players around us as much as possible but also be ready to perform first and foremost. 

“That’s the main thing – to be ready myself – and then enjoy it but make sure we’re giving absolutely everything to make everybody back home very proud.”

Henderson also urged England’s young players to go out and express themselves on the biggest stage.

“I think it’s important for them as well just to show what they’ve been doing to be able get to this point now,” he said.

“They’re all here for a reason, so [they should] be themselves; be confident; have that arrogance about them when they’re playing – but also the humbleness of training and doing the invisible work, as the gaffer says, and doing the hard yards together, and if you do that as a team and work for each other then we’ll have the quality to hurt any opposition.”

Henderson, who turns 36 on the day of England’s World Cup opener against Croatia, has earned 89 caps for his country, helping them to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and Euro 2020 final under Southgate.

He made his most recent international appearance in March’s 1-1 friendly draw with Uruguay at Wembley, starting that game and wearing the captain’s armband.

And the Premier League- and Champions League-winning former Liverpool skipper has already shown exactly the kind of experience which convinced Tuchel he had to take him to North America this summer.

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High temperatures in Canada, Mexico and the USA have been a major talking point ahead of the World Cup, and Henderson has done all he can to acclimatise during their pre-tournament training camp in Florida.

He added: “I came out the day after the last game, so I’ve been here since Monday to come out and try and get ready, try and get used to the weather conditions and try to get ahead of the game a little bit, be with the family as well.

It’s been a good week for me to train and to prepare for this little bit. And then hopefully we’ve got this camp now to prepare for the World Cup.

“So, yeah, I’m just really excited, like I say, and honoured to be here and be a part of it. But now it’s about hard work, being together, like I said, and pushing each other every single day to be the best version of ourselves.

England will play two friendlies before they begin their mission to end 60 years of World Cup hurt in two weeks’ time.

Tuchel’s side are in action against New Zealand in Tampa this Saturday (June 6) before facing Costa Rica in Orlando next Wednesday (June 10).

The Three Lions play their opening match against Croatia in Dallas then head to Boston to play Ghana and New York to meet Panama.