Regardless of what Jordan Pickford does for the rest of his career, he will always be remembered as the person who saved Carlos Bacca’s shot and broke England’s penalty shootout curse.
Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Jordan Henderson, Kieran Trippier and Eric Dier. Those are the names of the players who took penalties for England in the last Round of the 16th World Cup match. Four of them scored, but it was the man between the posts who deserved all the credit at the end.
Jordan Pickford
Before he became Sunderland’s No.1, Jordan Pickford had a loan spell with League Two club, Carlisle United. Some of the traits that his goalkeeper Tony Caig noticed at the time helped Pickford become an England hero yesterday.
“Jordan was very much one who would just turn up and play, and you didn’t have to say much to get him in the right frame of mind. I used to notice that, the closer he got to game day, especially on a Friday, he was right on it, sharp as a tack.”
That’s also how he looked before the penalty shootout against Colombia. Some would say that he was too calm and even apathetic. But when push came to shove, Pickford was on top of things.
“He was a bit of a throwback, in terms of his mentality to playing,”
“He was very driven, and just got on with things.”
When you’re in a position in which the Everton keeper was, you can’t afford to overanalyze and overthink. Even if you’re not the best there is, you just need to concentrate on doing your job and doing what you’ve been trained to do since you first stepped on a football pitch.
Jordan Pickford has been criticized in the past. He was often caught out of position in Everton, which led to people questioning the €34 million fee that the London club paid in order to acquire the 24-year-old. Former Manchester United defender and ITV pundit Garry Neville had a few things to say after the game versus Belgium as well.
“His feet are up in the air. His feet are off the ground when he’s jumping. He goes with his wrong hand.”
“It’s just a bit weird…”
Whether he’s a top class keeper or not, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is he made the save when it counted most.
Does penalty shootout count for Golden Boot?
Secondary to Pickford’s performance was Harry Kane taking the lead in the 2018 World Cup top goalscorer standings. After scoring in regular time, his fourth converted penalty kick in the tournament and sixth goal overall, Kane scored from the spot again during the penalty shootout. For the few out there wondering whether that goal counts towards his Golden Boot total, know that it doesn’t. It does count when considering who’s going to win the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best player, though. It’s something to keep in mind in case Kane ends up in the conversation.