Two Everton stars suffer final heartache

I wasn’t going to write about last night’s events as it still feels a little raw but it is a fact that both Everton stars Jordan Pickford and Richarlison suffered tournament final heartbreak within 24 hours of each other.

First came the Copa America final as Richarlison’s Brazil took on their fierce rivals and neighbours Argentina in the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The Everton forward had been in good form for Brazil during the competition and would have been confident of victory going into the final.

But it wasn’t to be as Argentina won a tight a match 1-0 through a first half goal that proved enough to defeat the hosts and claim Argentina’s first Copa America championship in a decade.

Richarlison has a chance for redemption almost straight away as he will be going to the Olympics in Tokyo with Brazil. Hopefully he will get a chance to make amends and secure that title.

And so we come to last night. England, like Brazil were technically the hosts, sort of, and like the South Americans, England of course were also defeated in the end.

Everton keeper Pickford has been in outstanding form for his country thoughout the Euros and last night was no different. The other Blues player in the squad, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, has barely got a look-in and wasn’t to feature in yesterday’s final either.

Pickford went into last night’s final having matched one of the most iconic goalkeepers in England history, Gordon Banks.

The Toffees number one had managed to keep a clean sheet as long as Banks did in the 1966 World Cup before he conceded a goal in the semi-final win against Denmark, just as Banks did when England beat Portugal in the semi that fabled year. So was all this a good omen?

Against Italy last night Pickford made several superb stops when he was called on and almost kept out Italy’s equaliser when he saved the first effort only to see the ball cannon off the post and be put into the net.

England actually probably scored too early in the match and as so often happens it seemed to impede their natural play and make them at times sit too deep to try and defend that lead.

And in addition, Gareth Southgate’s instinctive caution, which has paid dividends in the tournament generally, meant he perhaps didn’t change things quickly enough to wrest control back from Italy.

Well after Italy equalised and the usual waste of time that is extra-time, came the seemingly inevitable horror show of a penalty shoot-out. I know it’s hard to think of a better way to settle a game in the end but doing it on penalty kicks seems almost childish and a parody of football. Perhaps if England had won I might think differently!

Anyway, penalties it was and in the shoot-out Pickford pulled off two excellent saves to keep England in it with both Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho missing, until Bakayo Saka had his spot kick saved and it was all over.

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The performances of Pickford and Richarlison should bode well for Everton next season, assuming Richarlison in particular is not too tired when he finally gets back and is still a Toffees player when the season kicks off.

For Pickford in particular it has been a tournament which has further underlined his claim to be England’s automatic number one choice in goal, something that feels firmly cemented in place now.

Paradoxically, he’s often performed much more consistently for his country than his club. But he was in excellent form for the Blues in the final third of last season before going to the Euros.

Hopefully, going forward Pickford won’t dwell too much on this difficult and unpleasant experience, although of course it’s going to take a long time for him or any of the England players to fully get over this defeat.

Pickford now has to take the excellent form and consistent performances he has produced for England into an Everton goalkeepers jersey and carry it on for his club next season.

Perhaps he can play a big part in helping the Blues finally end their long trophy drought and gain some compensation for last night’s heartache.