Pickford’s priceless stop saves England
Sweden Under-21s England Under-21s Att: 11,672
Jordan Pickford was sold for £30 million during the week but England will regard his penalty save in their opening encounter of the Euro Under-21 Championships as nearly priceless.
Defeat by Sweden would, in all probability, have ended England’s hopes of finally doing well in this tournament almost before they had got started. Qualifying for the semifinals – only the winners of the fourteam groups are guaranteed a place – is so tough that defeat would have put England under the kind of intense pressure that they have struggled to cope with in the past.
After the euphoria of the Under20s winning the World Cup, the crushing disappointment of the Under-21s failing at yet another tournament – they have not got out of the group in three previous attempts – would have been a severe blow to the Football Association.
England manager Gareth Southgate was here and, frankly, the performance of the side overseen by his successor with the Under21s, Aidy Boothroyd, was not good enough. They lacked creativity and a cutting edge and Sweden, the holders, finished the stronger and probably should have won. They even ended up accusing England of being a long-ball team.
Sweden would have triumphed had they converted their 80th-minute penalty, awarded after left-back Ben Chilwell charged into Linus Wahlqvist on the corner of the area. England argued it was outside but German referee Tobias Stieler pointed to the spot, and Wahlqvist stepped up.
Pickford, whose move from Sunderland to Everton was announced the day before this game, dived to his right and stuck out an arm to swipe away Wahlqvist’s tame kick. The rebound fell to substitute Carlos Strandberg, who had made a significant difference after he came on, but Pickford collected his weak attempt.
Pickford was mobbed by his team-mates, with a relieved Boothroyd giving the 23-year-old the thumbs-up from the touchline and later hailing his “super goalkeeper” who, he said, had “had quite a week”. “Most people would struggle to deal with what has happened but thankfully he hasn’t,” Boothroyd said.
Pickford spoke of the relief he felt. “The main thing is not to lose the game,” he said. “The first game is always tight and we came away with a draw. It’s down to us to win the next two. I waited longer and held my ground and got to the penalty, that’s what you do. Sweden killed our tempo a bit. They had a game-plan to let us have the ball at the back and now we move on to Monday [England’s next Group A game against Slovakia before facing the hosts Poland on Thursday].”
Of his transfer to Everton, which made him the most expensive British goalkeeper after less than a season in the Premier League, Pickford added: “It’s nice to get my move out of the way so I can concentrate and focus on the tournament. Everton was the best move for me.”
When it comes to analysing this match, England can at least draw encouragement from the fact that they avoided defeat. There is also now a happy trend of goalkeepers saving pressure penalties, with Freddie Woodman having done so against Venezuela in that Under20s final in South Korea.
Will England reach the final here? Not on this evidence. Sweden were less gifted but they were street-smart, organised and have an edge to them which was evidenced in their coach Hakan Ericson’s refusal to allow the pitch to be watered – although an extraordinary downpour before kick-off negated that anyway – which followed on from the Swedes complaining about not being allowed a DVD of England’s last warm-up match.
Both sides struck the bar, with a shot from Chilwell ricocheting off a Swedish defender and clipping the top of the goal-frame. Sweden’s effort was closer, with a first-time, angled shot by Pawel Cibicki, a winger with Malmo, beating Pickford but cannoning back into play.
England had only one shot on target and, as hard as Tammy Abraham worked, the striker appeared raw and lacked support. England had to do more in the wide areas and show greater ambition – Nathan Redmond was disappointing and Jacob Murphy faded – while it was frustrating for Lewis Baker, England’s expected playmaker.
Sweden were always going to be tough, not least because they had the backing of up to 5,000 fans. There was a wall of noise off the pitch and a yellow wall on it, with Sweden defending deep and uncompromisingly.
England made a strong start but
opportunities were hard to come by, with Abraham spurning a couple of chances before Cibicki drove over from close-range for Sweden.
England’s one effort on target finally came in the second half, only for goalkeeper Anton Cajtoft to push away James Ward-prowse’s dangerous free-kick from 25 yards.
“We want to qualify for the semifinals and we have to win games to do that,” Boothroyd said. “But when we don’t play well, we have to dig in and not lose.” He was right but England now have to win. Pickford’s save, he added, could be a “defining moment”. It was certainly valuable.