Jordan is pick of Aidy bunch
JORDAN PICKFORD proved his value in his first game since his record-breaking transfer.
Everton’s new £30million man celebrated his move from Sunderland by saving an 82nd-minute penalty from Linus Wahlqvist to rescue a point in England’s Group A opener.
He was the perfect man to rain on Sweden’s parade after they had refused to allow the pitch to be watered beforehand, claiming it would give England a “competitive advantage”.
The plan came unstuck when the heavens opened.
It did not help Aidy Boothroyd’s boys much, though. The Young Lions, looking to follow in the footsteps of the World Cup-winning Under-20s, managed only a single shot on target.
England have not won this tournament since 1984 and have failed to get out of the group stage at the past three. They face another uphill battle.
With England boss Gareth Southgate watching in the stands, they failed to impress against the reigning champions and must do better against Slovakia and hosts Poland.
Only the three group winners are guaranteed to go through. Sweden were unbeaten in their qualifiers and topped a group that included Spain. Their 5,000 fans also outnumbered the England support massively.
But it was all England for 28 minutes with Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Norwich winger Jacob Murphy shining. Then, out of the blue, Sweden produced a glorious chance when Bristol City’s Gustav Engvall combined with Pawel Cibicki, who somehow skied a shot from six yards over the bar.
Murphy came within inches of the opener when he smashed one from 25 yards which beat Sweden keeper Anton Cajtoft but sailed too high.
With a little more composure, Abraham, who hit 26 goals on loan for Bristol City last season, would have scored just before half-time. But after spinning to find room, he sliced over. England survived a scare in the 57th minute when Cibicki hit one against the bar from the edge of the box with Pickford beaten.
Malmo striker Cibicki was preferred to Carlos Strandberg despite Boothroyd picking out the latter as Sweden’s dangerman. Cibicki justified his selection, but it was not long before Strandberg was also in the thick of things after coming on as a substitute on the hour. After Chelsea’s Lewis Baker wasted another chance, Strandberg hit the side-netting and Leicester’s Ben Chilwell fired in a shot which took a wicked deflection over Cajtoft before hitting the crossbar.
James Ward-Prowse forced Cajtoft into a diving save with a spinning free-kick before Mason Holgate denied Strandberg with a brilliant last-ditch tackle. Then came the real drama. Chilwell could not believe it when he brought down Wahlqvist and German referee Tobias Stieler pointed to the spot.
But Pickford clawed away Wahlqvist’s poorly hit penalty and England lived to fight another day.
SWEDEN (4-3-1-2): Cajtoft; Lundqvist, Dagerstal, Larsson, Wahlqvist; Fransson (Mrabti 74), Hallberg, Tibbling (Tankovic 86); Olsson; Engvall (Strandberg 60), Cibicki.
ENGLAND (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Holgate, Mawson, Chambers, Chilwell; Ward-Prowse, Chalobah; Murphy (Gray 70), Lewis Baker, Redmond; Abraham.
Referee: T Stieler (Ger).