FIRST PICK
Keeper Jordan stands tall as Southgate’s kids hold world champions
JORDAN PICKFORD shut the door on the world champions with a sparkling debut.
The Everton keeper’s display eased fears about England’s strength in depth as the young Lions kept Germany at bay.
Pickford shone along with Crystal Palace’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Swansea striker Tammy Abraham, all making their senior bow for Gareth Southgate (left) against a team with 300 caps in their starting line-up. Pickford staked a case for prising the No.1 jersey from Joe Hart with a very
NOW we might have to stop getting ourselves from getting a bit carried away.
After all, it is only seven months to the World Cup and it is what England do best: build up our hopes and expectations until we think we might just win it. Here we go again.
Realistically, England are a long way off and yet there were genuinely encouraging signs against the world champions with a flourishing crop of youngsters giving cause for optimism.
Keeper Jordan Pickford was outstanding, two brilliant saves making him the Wembley hero as he defied Germany and, like a few others, did himself a power of good. And England also gave Germany a few scares.
After all the injury pullouts, the game was in danger of becoming something of a farce and yet England did themselves proud.
It was a breathless start and they could easily have gone ahead within two minutes. Jamie Vardy’s pace saw him scamper clear down the left, put over a low cross and Tammy Abraham failed to make a connection before Kieran Trippier fired into the side-netting.
The game was so lively we did not even see a paper aeroplane until the 19th minute. Fans threw them out of frustration during England’s boring win over Slovenia last month.
But this time they were far too gripped by what was happening on the pitch to start folding pieces of paper.
England played with a raw enthusiasm, the full debutants – Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Abraham and Pickford – played well and above their tender years.
Germany looked good and toyed with England at times. Joachim Low’s men had nearly 300 caps between them and England only 101.
But if England’s last few qualifiers were a bit of a turnoff, this game and the players captured the imagination of a Wembley crowd who actually seemed to enjoy themselves for a change.
That was partly down to the opposition as Manchester City’s Leroy Sane was superb and even Mesut Ozil (below) looked good, threading passes through midfield. It must be Germany giving him the No.10 shirt which makes all the difference… Sane crashed a shot against the bar after 20 minutes. Two minutes later, England had an even bigger letoff. Ozil’s pass picked out Timo Werner and his shot was brilliantly saved by Pickford, Sane’s follow-up shot was heroically headed off the line by Phil Jones and Julian Draxler slashed the rebound over the bar.
Jones had been struggling, clutching his thigh and finally limped off after 25 minutes to be replaced by Joe Gomez.
Jose Mourinho might have been less than impressed to have seen Jones actually start the game with a big strapping on his thigh.
England looked shaky in defence, but John Stones valiantly held it together while Harry Maguire struggled badly as he stepped up, let Werner through again and Pickford made another terrific save.
But just when you thought Germany might run away with it, England came back. Vardy was making a nuisance of himself, Loftus-Cheek looked strong in midfield and Abraham was a handful up front.
Trippier’s cross set up Vardy but his header was brilliantly saved while Mats Hummels made a brilliant goal-line clearance to stop England scoring after 59 minutes. Jesse Lingard missed the best chance with the final kick when Maguire knocked down at the back post only for the Manchester United striker to blaze over from six yards.
But boss Gareth Southgate should take a lot of encouragement. Three debutants from the start, another two – Gomez and Jack Cork– as subs and suddenly England should feel a bit more enthusiastic.