Pickford welcomes England competition from Trafford

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Jordan Pickford has welcomed the competition from James Trafford in the fight to be England’s starting goalkeeper.

Pickford has been England’s first-choice goalkeeper since the 2018 World Cup, but Trafford has started in each of their Nations League matches during this international break.

Trafford became the first England goalkeeper other than Pickford to start consecutive games since Nick Pope in September 2022, though the Everton shot-stopper could be back between the sticks when the Three Lions face Croatia on Saturday.

Pickford believes the competition will only help him grow as a goalkeeper, while insisting he has no immediate plans to retire.

“I feel for me personally it’s always good to have good competition, I’ve always said in interviews I’ve always wanted that competition.

“We have a good crop of goalkeepers coming through and it’s a credit to England to have that and may it continue for longer.

“I’ll always push myself at the club to be the best version of me and keep getting those caps. You can’t let your foot off the gas at any time you want to push yourself to be who you want to be.

“I’m 32 now, you see keepers playing still at 40, still playing at the highest level. It’s about me focusing on myself; I set myself my own goals.”

“Being the best version of England.” 

Jordan Pickford on the mindset going into Croatia.

— England (@England) October 2, 2026

England have won their last eight away matches in all competitions – a win against Croatia would see them equal their record of nine away wins in a row between December 1965 and October 1967 under Sir Alf Ramsey.

Since beating England in the 2018 World Cup semi-final, Croatia are winless in all four games against the Three Lions (D1 L3).

Pickford played in the World Cup defeat in 2018, though he believes England cannot rely on their recent success over Croatia.

“I think it’s always a good competitive match, we know we lost in the 2018 World Cup against them,” added Pickford.

“But we are looking past recent history and we have always played well against them. You’re always going to be against good competition at pot one in the Nations League; it’s about being the best version of us.”

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