Jordan begs for chance to pick up top award
JORDAN PICKFORD is desperate to play against Belgium tomorrow to boost his chances of winning the Golden Glove.
The Everton man is battling it out with Hugo Lloris, Thibaut Courtois and Danijel Subasic for the title of the World Cup’s top goalkeeper.
And Pickford knows if he misses out on the third/ fourth place play-off it could blow his chances
Frenchman Lloris, whose side face Croatia in the final, is favourite to win the prestigious award, but whatever happens, the England keeper leaves Russia recognised as one of the best in the business.
“Hopefully I will get the nod against Belgium,” said the 24-year-old.
“I’d love to get the goalkeeper of the tournament.
“But we came to win this World Cup. We can’t do that now but we want to finish third.”
The odds are against Pickford having his wish granted, with Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate likely to give his two goalkeeping understudies
Jack Butland and Nick
Pope 45 minutes each in St Petersburg.
Pickford, however, will be remembered for pulling off some of the best saves of the entire tournament, especially during the knockout stages.
When he denied Croatia’s
Mario Mandzukic at point blank range in the first half of extra-time on Wednesday night Pickford thought it might prove crucial.
“It was a decent save,” he said.
“I thought that might be the turning point for us.
But unfortunately Croatia just kept coming at us. We weathered a lot of storms out there.
“It was incredible considering they had just played a couple of twohour games plus penalties.
They were very, very fit.”
Despite the bitter disappointment of defeat, Pickford insists he will look back at the tournament with fondness.
“My abiding memory has got to be the penalty save against Colombia,” he said of his spectacular shootout stop from Carlos Bacca in the last-16.
“It felt big at the time and it still feels big now.
“We won a shootout. And we won a knockout game.
“The other one is that I know I have played well in the tournament.
“But above all this World Cup was about a group of lads embracing every moment, enjoying ourselves and doing ourselves justice. Unfortunately, we just came up a bit short.
“But the country believes in us again. Beforehand, I don’t think that they were expecting too much from us.
“Now they have seen the character there is in this squad.
“They can see we are capable of progressing.”
As for himself, Pickford just wants to keep improving.
He said: “I just feel I can get better all the time.
“Playing in this tournament can only help. The more experiences like this the more I’m going to improve.”