England recorded their first ever penalty shoot-out win at a World Cup on Tuesday night
Jordan Pickford more than played his part in the victory. Having pulled off an incredible save in stoppage time, the Everton goalkeeper was unfortunate to concede Colombia’s equaliser from the resulting corner in stoppage time.
In the shoot-out, however, he was one of the heroes – saving brilliantly from Carlos Bacca to allow Eric Dier to send Gareth Southgate’s men through to a quarter-final against Sweden.
Undoubtedly, Pickford has come a long way in a short space of time. He only signed for Everton last summer, having made his debut for hometown club Sunderland in January 2016.
His progress is perhaps best summed up by a tweet he sent six years ago, which has been widely shared in the time since he helped England to the last eight of the World Cup.
Sent in September 2012, the then-18-year-old Pickford complained about his parents not paying for him to have sky television in his room.
‘Freeview is soul destroying at this time of night,’ he tweeted.
Wish the parents would pay for me to have sky i'n my room, freeview i's soul destroying at this time of night
— Jordan Pickford (@JPickford1) September 13, 2012
Something tells us Pickford probably doesn’t have the same freeview issues any longer…
England take on Sweden on Saturday after the Scandinavians booked their place in the last eight with a single-goal victory over Switzerland. Should England win that game, they’ll face a semi-final against either Croatia or hosts, Russia.
