World Cup 2018: The making of Jordan Pickford, from Wrexham away to Croatia in a semi-final

Pickford's journey to the first team is arguably the most impressive of all

Gareth Southgate has spoken passionately about the humble beginnings of so many of his England team, his un-entitled generation who do not “stroll around” because they never would have made it at Bolton or Barnsley or Leeds United if they did.

But those clubs are giants compared to Darlington and Alfreton Town, or Burton Albion or Carlisle United, the clubs where a teenage Jordan Pickford learned to play in goal.

Of all the stories of sudden rises into elite football that make up this England team, none are as surprising and impressive as that of Pickford. He only made his England debut last November and, going into the World Cup, only had three caps to his name. Not many would have expected him to be here, excelling as England’s number one, but he has arguably been the second-best player of the campaign. His brilliant save from Carlos Bacca’s penalty last Tuesday was one of the moments of the tournament, and his sharp dive down to his right from Viktor Claesson on Saturday was nearly as good.

Pickford looks every inch the modern international goalkeeper: gymnastic reflexes, explosive off his line, precise long kicking to distant teammates, comfortable short passing to the defence. He looks perfectly natural at this, the highest level he has ever played at.

In one sense it is a remarkable rise in a short space of time. At 24, Pickford is still young for a goalkeeper. But for Pickford himself, the difference between the serious end of the World Cup, and his learning years in League One, League Two, and even the Blue Square Premier, is not as big as you may think.

“I’ve got a lot of games under my belt in the lower leagues and I don’t feel the Premier League or this [England] is that much different,” he said, in the aftermath of Saturday’s win. “In some ways non-league and League Two is the hard challenge.”

Pickford still remembers the difficult away trips he played during those loan years, playing for the teams Sunderland sent him to to toughen him up. Because he was finding youth team football so easy and needed to learn about the other side of the game. Without those years at Darlington or Alfreton, he would not be preparing to play a World Cup semi-final in Moscow on Wednesday night.

Jordan Pickford makes a stunning save from Sweden striker Marcus Berg (EPA)

And is it very different, from that level to this one? “No, not really,” Pickford said. “You can say that, but when people are working as electricians, and stuff like that. It is all about learning and that is what I did in those leagues. Then when you come on to the big stage, you have got to perform and it is football. And I just enjoy it.”

It was not always this fun. “Places like Wrexham and Southport away when there are not that many people there,” Pickford said. “You are a young lad and you’re having abuse hurled at you. That is what teaches you, and that’s what you laugh about now.”

“And when you get that stick, that’s when you become better. When there are just 500 fans inside a ground, you can hear everything they say, every little word that is getting said. So that is what turns you from a kid into a man.”

The idea for Pickford to leave Sunderland on loan came when youth goalkeeping coach Mark Prudhoe and Kevin Ball noticed Pickford was getting “bored” with youth team football and that he was “past” playing with teenagers his age. So he went to “do his trade”, playing with grown men, many of them semi-professional, the standards and the stakes so far removed from development football. “I was only young then so I was learning about game management and all that stuff,” he said. “That was the difficult task. That is what makes the game easier because you understand it more.”

Now, with all that experience behind him, Pickford is being talked of as one of the best goalkeepers at the World Cup, along with Hugo Lloris and Thibaut Courtois. He addresses comparisons with the straightforward honesty and confidence he brings to everything.

“A lot of people think I am only young but it is only my second season in the Premier League, and I do not feel as if I am far away from guys like that,” he said. “I’m just a normal lad. It’s only football.”