England in meticulous penalty practice as Pickford willing to take

Gareth Southgate previews France clash

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England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has been practising for penalties against France – taking them that is, as well as saving them.

The exhaustive box-ticking exercise to ensure every eventuality is covered off before tonight’s World Cup quarterfinal has seen Pickford lining up spot-kicks in training against reserve goalkeepers Nick Pope and Aaron Ramsdale.

It happened before in a shoot-out. Pickford took the side’s fifth penalty against Switzerland in the Nations League third place play-off three years ago and scored.

Indeed Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo scored the penalty that knocked England out of the 2004 Euros. So no stone unturned. No regrets.

“I have been practising taking a few,” said Pickford, who wins his 50th cap tonight. “You have to be ready for anything. You can’t not practise them, just go in and think I’ll be alright. I have to be prepared to take one and I’ve got to be prepared to save one. 

“I’ll go wherever the manager tells me to go. All I want to do is help the team. If it comes down to it I’ll step up and take one.”

If England were offered a penalty shoot-out before kick-off to decide their World Cup fate against France tonight would they take it? It is an interesting question.

For any Englishman there would be an instinctive twitch at the prospect especially after England’s experience in their last comparable match of this magnitude, the Euros final.

But, in France, this is the world champions we are talking about, a team ranked above England and a team with the hottest striker on the planet in Kylian Mbappe. 

In Pickford they have a goalkeeper who has saved penalties in all three of the  shoot-outs he has been involved in with England including two at Wembley in the Euros final.

“Hopefully I don’t have to make a save tomorrow. Hopefully we don’t get to penalties. Hopefully we get the win in 90 minutes,” said Pickford.

“But it’s a pressure situation, you have to execute and I’m confident we can.

“With the Euros final, I think you can look at the statistics and saving two should win you the tournament. But that’s football. It’s not always what the statistics say. It’s something we’ll learn from, that defeat, and hopefully get better from.”

Pickford, like Maddie Hinch the hero of Great Britain’s Olympic hockey gold in Rio, writes notes on the opposition penalty-takers before a game and sticks them to his water bottle.

When they reach the penalty spot he fixes them with his eyes.

“I just have a look at them and see how they’re feeling,” said the Everton ‘keeper. “They’ve got their process as a penalty taker and as a goalkeeper I’ve got my process and it’s whoever comes out on top on that individual penalty.

“I’ll have a little reset every time I go to the side. But my process is always the same.”

The Pickford era, which began with a clean sheet against Germany in 2017, has coincided with an uptake in England’s shootout record. They have won two out of three – that Swiss match and the Colombia Round of 16 tie at the 2018 World Cup. 

Compare that to the dismal five-defeat run stretching back to the 1996 Euros, which preceded it and maybe it will not be the end of the world if the France quarterfinal goes the distance at the Al Bayt Stadium on Saturday.

No-one actively craves a shoot-out. The tension would be excruciating with a World Cup semi-final place on the line. 

But for a goalkeeper they bring the chance to be the hero. Pickford is ready and waiting. As stopper or taker.

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