Jordan Pickford was England’s outstanding performer as their World Cup ended with a 2-1 semi-final defeat to Argentina in Atlanta.
Anthony Gordon had put England ahead just past the hour, converting a Morgan Rogers cross to send Thomas Tuchel’s side into dreamland. But Argentina hit back twice in the final ten minutes. Enzo Fernandez levelled from the edge of the box with five minutes left, and Lautaro Martinez struck the winner soon after to book Argentina’s place in Sunday’s final against Spain.
Pickford had kept England in the game long before that. He denied Julian Alvarez twice within the first two minutes of the second half, then produced a superb low save to his right to keep out a Nico Gonzalez header from a Lionel Messi cross. He also tipped a fierce Fernandez effort over the bar, holding out for as long as he could.
It capped a personal milestone tournament for the Everton keeper, who became England’s record World Cup appearance-holder during the quarter-final win over Norway. Facing Messi for the first time at senior level, he barely put a foot wrong.
Argentina’s equaliser came from a set-piece Pickford could do little about, and Martinez’s winner was a finish few keepers would have kept out. The goalkeeper leaves the tournament with little to reproach himself for, even as England’s wait for a first World Cup since 1966 goes on.
Tuchel’s players now face the long journey home, sixty years on from that solitary triumph, while Pickford’s Atlanta heroics go down as a rare bright spot in a night of familiar heartbreak.
