In the general perception of the best goalkeeper to date at this European Championship, Jordan Pickford is hardly mentioned. The failure to observe the English national goalkeeper could of course be due to the fact that the motherland of football is simply no longer trusted to have a serious goalkeeper, after most predecessors were remembered more for mistakes than luck. Likewise, the aspect that, from the public’s point of view, has not yet received a decisive penalty from a high-ranking attacker like the Swiss Yann Sommer in the penalty shootout of the last 16 against the French Kylian Mbappé – or set a new world record like the Italian Gianluigi, should also be relevant Donnarumma, who together with his deputies had last 1168 minutes without conceding a goal.
As an advertisement in his own right, Pickford, 27, can at least refer to several noteworthy reflexes in previous games, although these games would have to be watched at least once again in order to recognize the exposure of the rescue acts. Because Pickford didn’t make much of a stir about his ability at this European Championship. After his one-handed save against right-winger Stephen O’Donnell’s volley in the island duel with Scotland, he casually used the water bottle to downplay the fact that he had just shown one of the best reactions in the tournament. It looked similar after his winning parades against the Germans Timo Werner and Kai Havertz. The more remarkable his achievements seemed, the more calmly Pickford took note of them. Three years ago, at the 2018 World Cup, he would certainly have touted every ball that was blocked afterwards. After all, it wasn’t too bad for himself then to put himself on a par with Thibaut Courtois (Belgium) and Hugo Lloris (France), probably the best goalkeepers in the tournament.
Great deed: Jordan Pickford managed a trend-setting parade against Timo Werner in the round of 16.
(Photo: Mike Egerton / PA Images / imago)
In ten of his past 13 international matches, he has remained undefeated
His new composure now gives him an aura of reliability that makes him a serious contender for the golden glove of the best European Championship goalkeeper. As the first English number one since the great world champion goalkeeper Gordon Banks in 1966, Pickford, 35 caps, has managed to play the first four games of a world or European championship without conceding a goal. In the meantime, he has been unbeaten in the Three Lions jersey for more than ten hours, most recently the Belgian Dries Mertens defeated him in a Nations League game in November 2020 – although he was absent from the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in March due to an abdominal muscle injury. In ten of his past 13 international matches, he has remained undefeated. In the quarter-final duel with the Ukraine in Rome on Saturday evening, which the highly acclaimed German referee Felix Brych will lead on the island, he can further expand his balance sheet, anyway England is the only nation remaining in the European Championship without a goal.
The offensive was always considered a great strength of the team. “Pick of the bunch”, the chosen one of the team, punctuated the somewhat moderate tabloid Daily Mirror on Friday – and picked it out on a double page. In the main picture he can be seen with his mouth wide open as he screamed out joy and tension on the lap of honor after the success over Germany.
At an international level, a goalkeeper usually represents the emotional foundation of his team. The people in front want confident and conscientious support that conveys security and trust. However, Pickford, who was born in Washington near Newcastle, made his way into the elite primarily through passion and extroversion, attributes that are almost typical of a Geordie, as the people from the area are called. Coming from the youth department of Sunderland AFC, Pickford, only 1.85 meters tall, had to fight his way through the lowlands of English football at countless loan stations, which demanded everything that shaped and hardened him. From this time his initially cheeky demeanor may have resulted, which is almost a basic requirement for asserting oneself in these grueling leagues.
After his first season with Sunderland in the Premier League, which ended in last place, and good performances for the English U21s, Everton FC signed him in the summer of 2017 for the British record goalkeeper fee of around 30 million euros. The purchase price was well above market value, which was probably based less on his perspective than on the fact that hardly any English goalkeeper was used in the top league at the time.
Pickford picks up Manuel Neuer jersey
His career only really took off when his former U21 coach and current senior national coach Gareth Southgate pushed him into England’s goal almost overnight before the 2018 World Cup. In addition to the dropouts of his competitor Joe Hart, Pickford owed the nomination primarily to his foot skills on the ball. With two saved penalties, he then helped significantly that his team survived the round of 16 against Colombia in the shootout. Nevertheless, the feeling prevailed that the agile and lively Pickford tended to be hyperactive. His impatience led him to make numerous misjudgments at club level – the most serious of which was his kamikaze-like jump to the knee of Liverpool defense chief Virgil van Dijk in autumn 2020, which caused him to tear his cruciate ligament and death threats himself – as well as a discussion about his regular place.
During this time, Pickford helped collaborate with a sports psychologist whose expertise he was looking for at the beginning of the season. Before the European Championship, he said that the collaboration had made him “a more level-headed goalkeeper”. Pickford also fine-tuned his technique: the most striking progress can be seen in the way he holds his hands. England goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson once complained that he had the wrong habit of not holding his hands symmetrically on the body but at different heights in the basic position on the goal line.
After his zero match against Germany, perhaps the best game of his career, Jordan Pickford asked for the jersey of his counterpart Manuel Neuer. Despite the defeat, the German world goalkeeper handed him his shirt with an autographed signature – and Pickford wore it proudly from the stadium as if it were the golden glove for the best European Championship goalkeeper.