Everton star who is making The Three Lions proud
By Yusha Sharif
Every international tournament brings optimism among the England supporters and this Euro 2020 is no different, with the national side looking stronger than ever before. Everton have several players in it.
Tackling a group containing the likes of Croatia, Czech Republic and Scotland, England finished top of the group with 7 points scoring only 2 goals but conceding none, which is a great feat. One of the lions who helped achieve this feat is Everton shot stopper Jordan Pickford who became only the second England keeper to keep three clean sheets in the group stage of a major international tournament.
The last person to do so was the great Gordon Banks in the 1966 World Cup where he kept all of England’s group-stage opponents at bay.
Pickford’s clean sheet tally in the 2020 Euro is now on 4, thanks to their emphatic win over Germany. England defeated Die Mannschaft in a competitive game at Wembley for the first time since the 1966 World Cup final, having been winless in their previous three such encounters.
England kept an impressive fourth clean sheet to maintain their flawless record in the tournament. They are only the second side in European Championship history not to concede in any of their first four games of an edition of the tournament, after Germany in 2016. The only previous time England did so at any major tournament (World Cup & Euros) was at the 1966 World Cup and we all know what happened that year, football came home!
Everton star Pickford has made crucial saves throughout the tournament for England. And on this big occasion as well, he denied Timo Werner and Kai Havertz in each half and made sure that the Germans remained goalless.
So far in the tournament Pickford has faced 6 shots on target against him and he has saved all 6 of them. Pickford had a save percentage of 71.1% in the 2020-21 Premier League season for Everton which ranks him 9th behind Robert Sánchez (71.3%), Alphonse Areola (73.1%), Alisson (74.8%), Ederson (75%), Illan Meslier (75.1%), Hugo Lloris (75.7%), Emiliano Martínez (76.8%), and Nick Pope (77.0%).
Nick Pope wasn’t able to make the England squad due to his surgery on a knee injury. Pope started all the 3 games in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers for England and had he stayed fit, Gareth Southgate would’ve had a huge dilemma in front of him with Pope, Pickford and Dean Henderson all at his disposal.
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When the 33-man squad was announced, there were 4 goalkeepers that were selected namely Jordan Pickford, Dean Henderson, Sam Johnstone and Aaron Ramsdale.
Henderson withdrew from England’s Euro 2020 squad because of a hip injury and was replaced by the Sheffield United goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in the 26-man squad for England, leaving Pickford to become the favorite to start for the Three Lions and he has capitalized on this opportunity so far.
Even in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Pickford was impressive. Playing all 7 games for England, he had a save percentage of 69.6% saving 16 of the 23 shots that he faced as England finished 4th in the 2018 World Cup held in Russia.
Rafael Benítez has been announced as the new head coach of Everton, and if there is one position that he isn’t concerned about for next season, it is the goalkeeping position. With Pickford between the sticks the Toffees fans are hopeful that the upcoming 2020-21 season will be a success.