PICK THAT ONE OUT
England’s stars aim to hit net
ENGLAND are already practising penalties for the World Cup.
With 19 days to go before England’s first game against Tunisia, boss Gareth Southgate is desperate to avoid shoot-out heartache.
So players have been doing dummy runs where they walk from the halfway line to practise their kicks, just like in a match situation.
Six times out of seven in major tournaments since 1990, England have crashed out on penalties with their only shoot-out win against Spain in the quarter-finals at Euro 96.
Even then they lost to Germany in the semi-final with Southgate himself missing the crucial spot kick.
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford said: “Behind the scenes, we’re doing a lot of work to get prepared for how we’d want to go about it.
“For a keeper, it’s a lottery. But I’ve saved a few penalties this season, so I’m good at them.”
Everton star Pickford is favourite to be England’s number one in Russia and he fancies taking a penalty as well as saving them.
He added: “If I need to step up, I’ll take one. I’ve got no issue with that.
“I’ve never taken one in a shoot-out but I’m always practising. I remember in the Under-17s World Cup, I was down as third to take one but the manager changed it so I dropped to seventh.
“Then the lad who took the third smashed it over the bar. But there are a lot of good penalty takers here and it’s hard to save from any of them.
“Taking one or saving one, I’ll be happy either way.”
Sports psychologist Dan Abrahams said England’s biggest problem has been wilting under pressure.
He said: “For me, it’s because they don’t have effective penalty routines. Under pressure the challenge of penalties is not the task itself but actually doing it under pressure.”
Russia will have fighter planes in the skies above World Cup matches to thwart 9/11 copycat attacks.
JORDAN PICKFORD is talking goalkeeping clangers.
He remembers being at school in
2002, watching England against Brazil, when David Seaman allowed Ronaldinho’s looping set-piece to drift over his head and kill off the nation’s World Cup dream for another four years.
Then there was Rob Green’s blunder in South Africa eight years ago, when Clint Dempsey’s tame shot squirmed under his body to help the United States earn an unlikely draw against Fabio Capello’s side.
And of course Liverpool are still reeling from Loris Karius’ nightmare in Kiev, when he cost them any chance of winning the Champions League on Saturday night with two awful errors.
As a member of the goalkeepers’ union, Pickford has sympathy for the hapless German.
But the twice-capped England man, who is expected to be first choice in Russia, is a very different character to Karius.
“Of course I feel for him,” said the Everton man.
“It’s never nice to make mistakes but it’s how you bounce back.
“On a big stage like that, it’s always going to be difficult and you’ll get slaughtered off people but you can maybe become a better person and learn from it.”
Take his own recollection of the error which denied Sunderland a first win of the season at Southampton in August 2016, failing to keep out an 85thminute daisy-cutter from Jay Rodriquez in only his third Premier League outing for his hometown club.
“I was on fire that day,” said Pickford. “Really flying. It was my first game of the season and
I’d come in a bit cold but I made save after save.
“That mistake did not affect me. Nothing really affects me. I just get on with it because that’s the type of character I am.
“I’m able to mentally block out mistakes. I never really doubt myself or think if I do make a mistake, I’m going to make another. I just play the game.
“It’s never nice to make them but it’s how you bounce back.”
Reassuring words for fans maybe concerned at the lack of experience within England’s goalkeeping ranks.
And as followers of Sunderland and Everton will testify, there have been precious few ricks from Pickford since that sunny afternoon at St Mary’s.
Club football has not been easy for the 24-year-old but despite relegation on Wearside and a difficult campaign for the Toffees this term, his own reputation has soared.
He’s kept clean sheets in his two England games so far and if he performs well against either Nigeria at Wembley on Saturday or against Costa Rica at Leeds next Thursday, he’s favourite to start ahead of Jack Butland and Nick Pope when Gareth Southgate names his team to face Tunisia on June 18.
“None of us know yet,” said Pickford, who played under Southgate when England Under-21s won the Toulon tournament two years ago.
“But me, Popey and But are all working hard, pushing each other, so it is all competition. The manager knows what I’m capable of and so hopefully he’s got trust in me.”
During his Sunderland days, David Moyes criticised Pickford’s diet, something the keeper was far from happy about.
He insists his lifestyle is that of a finely-tuned sportsman, though that may change if the Three Lions can end their 52-year wait for another tournament win. “It would have been nice if he’d come and said it to me, rather than to the papers,” added Pickford of Moyes’ claim he liked his Big Macs a bit too much.
“On the field, you’re always learning, but off it, you learn the most, becoming a better person and nutritionally I’ve worked a lot on it.
“I’ve always eaten healthily – it was just portion sizes really. I wasn’t going to McDonald’s every week like the gaffer, Moyes, said at the time.
“Now I keep to a basic diet – lots of veg, protein and carbs when needed and a nice pizza after three points isn’t bad either.
“Will I have pizza in Russia after the World Cup Final?
“We’d be having more than pizza if we win the final.”