Jordan Pickford became the hero of england when saving one of the penalties of the shootout against Switzerland that earned his selection for access the semifinals of Euro 2024. Everton’s goalkeeper stopped the first of the Swiss launches, by Manuel Akanji. Pickford dived to his left and there was the Manchester City defender’s shot.
The English goalkeeper had studied all the Swiss players but, just in case, he had his chop stuck in his bottle. It clearly showed where each of them could launch. In Akanji, for example, she had to throw to the left of her… and she did.
He didn’t stop anymore, but yes guessed the intention of several, confirming that what his cheat sheet said made a lot of sense. Then, his teammates did the rest of the work marking the five pitches.
England won its last penalty shootout against Switzerland, for third and fourth place in the 2019 Nations League, although it had not won one in a European Championship since it did so against Spain in 1996.
