Season › 2017-18 › News Pickford is England's No.1 Lyndon Lloyd Monday, 4 June, 2018 12comments | Jump to most recent Clive Rose/Getty Images Jordan Pickford has been confirmed as Gareth Southgate's first-choice goalkeeper for the World Cup Finals in Russia this month following the release of England's squad numbers for the tournament. The Everton goalkeeper and the club's Player of the Season, has been listed as number one on the 23-man roster, with Stoke City stopper Jack Butland and Nick Pope of Burnley handed numbers 13 and 23 respectively. Shirt numbers aren't necessarily a concrete indicator of preference but Southgate admitted after Saturday's friendly against Nigeria in which Pickford played the full 90 minutes that the Toffees' star is likely to be the one in goal when the Three Lions' kick off the group phase of their campaign against Tunisia. “I was really pleased with what Jordan did,” Southgate said.“ His decision-making on crosses, the punch he made, his distribution and calmness to slide passes into midfield… that was really important to the way we want to play.” Article continues below video content “There was a bit of a statement with the selection of Jordan.” It means that Pickford, who went straight into Everton's first team last July following his big-money move from Sunderland, will wear the Number 1 jersey for his country at the World Cup despite having earned only three caps to date. Like many of the 2018 World Cup jerseys (the likes of Nigeria aside!), the home nation has opted for simplicity with the outfield players in all white and the goalkeepers in bright yellow on which Pickford will sport the same number as he does back at Goodison Park. While four years ago in Brazil, the club was represented by Ross Barkley, Phil Jagielka, and Leighton Baines, Pickford is the only current Everton player in England's squad this time. Ex-Blue John Stones is in the 23 and has been given the number 5 jersey and former Everton reserves defender Eric Dier has number 4. Harry Kane will wear number 9, Raheem Sterling the number 10 made famous by Gary Lineker at previous World Cups. The other two representatives from Goodison playing in Russia this summer will be Iceland's Gylfi Sigurdsson and Senegal's Idrissa Gueye. Sigurdsson played 27 minutes of his country's 3-2 defeat to Norway over the weekend, his first action since damaging a knee in Everton's win over Brighton in March. England squad numbers: Jordan Pickford (Everton) Kyle Walker (Manchester City) Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur) Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur) John Stones (Manchester City) Harry Maguire (Leicester City) Jesse Lingard (Manchester United) Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) Harry Kane (captain, Tottenham Hotspur) Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur) Jack Butland (Stoke City) Danny Welbeck (Arsenal) Gary Cahill (Chelsea) Phil Jones (Manchester United) Fabian Delph (Manchester City) Ashley Young (Manchester United) Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur) Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea) Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) Nick Pope (Burnley) Reader Comments (12) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Mike Gaynes 1 Posted 04/06/2018 at 20:18:22 Make us proud, boys. And for God's sake stay healthy. Jon Withey 2 Posted 04/06/2018 at 21:34:49 There is no way a Man Utd, Spurs, Liverpool or Chelsea player can be seen to make a mistake so either Pickford or Sterling (for some reason, the media don't like him) will be this year's scapegoats.In fact, maybe Germany are already trying to get into his head with that Bayern Munich interest thing. Tom Bowers 3 Posted 04/06/2018 at 21:40:20 The squad is full of weak players at the world-class level so, quite honestly, I think they will struggle to get out of the group. Anyone who can leave Jack Wilshere out the way he was playing is beyond me. Even Pickford has a way to go to prove he can be as good as, say, Gordon Banks and the like.Southgate has his blue-eyed boys and playing for the Manchester clubs or Spurs certainly helps get you picked. Don Alexander 4 Posted 04/06/2018 at 21:48:38 The Germans leave out Sane and we rely on Sterling. Hmmm. Peter Gorman 5 Posted 04/06/2018 at 23:30:47 Mixed feelings for the lad: on the one hand, proud... but, on the other, anticipating transfer speculation if he plays well – or scapegoating if he doesn't.In any case, he is probably the best keeper England have, so well done., Jay Harris 6 Posted 05/06/2018 at 00:06:14 How on earth do Phil Jones and Jordan Henderson get a game?If they played for any other clubs, they would never get near the England squad. Jamie Crowley 7 Posted 05/06/2018 at 01:19:44 Way to go, Jordan. Evertonian as England's #1. Love it.You've got the talent, shine at the World Cup, kid. Steve Ferns 9 Posted 05/06/2018 at 22:50:03 Neville Southall: "Pickford has a fair bit of talent but he could vary his service. Maybe he's been under instructions to boot it as far as he can. I'd like to see him spend another year working on crosses and stand up more on one-on-ones. But he's been the best English goalkeeper this season because I don't think Jack Butland has played enough. "I like him because he's calm but I'd go with Pickford. My only concern is that Pickford's always been busy because he's played in teams with shit defences. If he spends 80-odd minutes doing nothing has he the concentration to suddenly make a good save?” Peter Gorman 10 Posted 05/06/2018 at 23:35:53 Nev spot on about the defences, no surprise. Ash Moore 11 Posted 06/06/2018 at 15:13:49 No offence like, but that would have to be the most underwhelming England team to go to a World Cup since... well since probably ever.Southgate is a total gobshite so at least the FA is on point there. The Belgians are so loaded they left out Origi and Benteke. We're taking Alexander-Arnold and Welbeck. Nuff said. Steve Carse 12 Posted 08/06/2018 at 16:48:20 By my reckoning Pickford would have had 5 different specialist goalkeeping coaches (if you include the international team's coach) working on him in just a bit over 12 months. He's about to get another under the Silva regime (don't know him but The Echo has suggested he's a bit 'different'). I just wonder what these changes do for a goalkeeper. Presumably each coach would have his own way of thinking – what area outside the box to patrol, whether to come for crosses or leave them to his defenders etc. So to what extent can the keeper stick with what he feels most assured in doing? We don't want him becoming the next Joe Hart, someone who most definitely did lose his confidence and general abilities under a succession of different coaches.Steve (#9) earlier in this thread quotes Big Nev on Pickford; it would be interesting to know his views on the role and value (if any) in specialist keeper coaches. Tom Bowers 13 Posted 15/06/2018 at 17:16:50 I see boot-licker Henderson is picked again as Dier isn't 100%.A sorry state of affairs that this England position doesn't have other options. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads