PRESSURE? ER, NO I’M LIVING THE DREAM
JORDAN PICKFORD grinned at the idea that a World Cup semi-final will put him under intolerable pressure.
“Not really,” he when people working as said. “Not are electricians and stuff like that…”
He is still grounded. Still living the dream and still up alongside Jamie Vardy, Dele Alli and
Harry Kane as poster boys for the loan system in English football.
Last summer 24-year-old Pickford signed for Everton from Sunderland for £25million. This summer he has cemented his position as his country’s No.1 goalkeeper.
His road to success has taken in loan spells at Darlington, Alfreton, Burton, Carlisle, Bradford and Preston.
In Samara on Saturday he was England’s man of the match against Sweden. Next Sunday he could be in goal in a World Cup final.
He could also be up against Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois, the man who had to clarify his comments last week after suggesting Pickford was too short to make vital saves. Still no pressure?
“I wouldn’t let that affect me,” added Pickford. “It is just a game of football. I don’t let anything like that affect me. I’m just a normal lad. It’s only football.
“Places like Wrexham and Southport, when there are not that many people there, those are the hardest places to play.
“You are a young lad and you’re having abuse hurled at you. That is what teaches you and that’s what you laugh about now.
“And when you get that stick, that’s when you become better. When there are just 500 fans inside a ground, you can hear everything they say, every little word that is said. So that is what turns you from a kid into a man.
“It is all about learning and that is what I did in those leagues. Then when you come to the big stage, you have got to perform. I just enjoy it.”
Pickford has already eased concerns over his fitness for England’s first World Cup semi-final in 28 years, despite leaving Samara on Saturday night with heavy bandaging on his left hand (and the man-of-the-match award in the other). On Wednesday against Croatia he will have a nation screaming at their TVS and big screens around the country, hoping he can replicate the heroics that have helped England get this far.
But the drama of Italia ’90 – England’s last appearance in a World Cup semi-final, when they lost on penalties to West Germany – is lost on him and his family.
“I wasn’t born then so I can’t really say, and I don’t think my Dad will remember too much either!” he said.
But he paid tribute to England goalkeeping legend Peter Shilton, who played against the Germans that night, while revealing his hero to be the legendary Manchester United keeper Peter Schmeichel.
“I know Shilton and Gordon Banks were great goalkeepers of their generation but the game changes and the game develops,” he said. “Sometimes you look back at the saves they made and admire them but I just focus on myself and being my own goalkeeper.
“When I was young I liked Schmeichel and I have always looked up to Joe Hart. But as a kid, it was definitely Schmeichel.”
As for the impact he is having on the kids of today, many of whom could be inspired by his performances into opting to play between the sticks, the Everton keeper said: “It is really nice if that is happening because it means I am doing my best for my country, my family and myself.”