One of Gareth Southgate’s boldest decisions as England coach was to promote Jordan Pickford to be his first-choice goalkeeper — and the wisdom of that choice is now being put to the test.
As we saw during Russia’s shock defeat of Spain on penalties on Sunday, the man chosen to stand between the posts can have the biggest say on a team’s fortunes at a World Cup once the knockout stages are under way. The Everton stopper has yet to shine in the tournament, but there is no time like Tuesday’s last-16 match against Colombia to put that right.
England did not need to rely on him too much during the opening group matches against Tunisia and Panama — Harry Kane made sure of that — but when he was put under a bit more pressure by Belgium, Pickford looked anxious and unconvincing.