Jordan Pickford suffers England nightmare as Everton goalkeeper drops clanger to gift Belgium an early goal

9 months ago 62

JORDAN PICKFORD suffered a nightmare blunder in England’s friendly against Belgium.

The Everton keeper attempted to play a raking pass but gave the ball directly to Toffees team-mate Amadou Onana instead.

Foden passed the ball back to Pickford[/caption]

Tielemans slotted the ball into a virtually empty net[/caption]

Tielemans wrong footed Pickford[/caption]

Pickford was left frustrated with his mistake[/caption]

He then slid the ball to Youri Tielemans who wrong-footed Pickford from 25 yards.

The mistake came after Phil Foden rolled the ball back to Pickford, with the keeper not under any real pressure from Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku.

Pickford rolled the ball with his foot a couple of times while gesturing to his team to make an option for him.

He opted to try and play a long diagonal to West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen which dragged along the floor and was easily intercepted.

The costly mistake comes in the last England game before Gareth Southgate announces his Euro 2024 squad.

But he’s hardly blessed with options if he is to look to replace Pickford before the tournament.

His second choice, Aaron Ramsdale is also no2 for Arsenal, having lost his place this season to David Raya.

Palace keeper Sam Johnstone was forced to withdraw from the squad injured and was replaced by U21s keeper James Trafford.

Reacting to Pickford’s mistake, one fan wrote on X: “Pickford englands no1 hahahha get someone else between the sticks he’s so overrated.”

Another said: “Pickford wow what a howler lol.”

A third wrote: “Genuinely don’t think Pickford can be #1 anymore what is that?”

Rob Green stood up for Pickford, however, saying that it was the first time he has made a significant mistake in an England shirt.