England 0 Germany 0: Three Lions in Wembley stalemate as Jordan Pickford stands tall
As Gareth Southgate’s rookies did their best to avoid Wembley woe against the mighty Germans, the Everton man stood firm. The £30m stopper denied Timo Werner twice in the first-half with saves which illustrated his excellent reactions as well as his agility.
The Three Lions also needed some brave defending and a fair slice of luck to stay in the game.
But despite the dominance of Joachim Low’s football aristocrats, England threatened on occasions and Jamie Vardy had two excellent opportunities either side of the break. The Leicester striker was involved in the action from the start.
Danny Rose sent him bursting clear down the left with less than 90 seconds gone. He seemed to have picked out Tammy Abraham to sidefoot home, but the Swansea youngster got his footwork all wrong and missed the ball.
Kieran Trippier on the overlap was there to try to cut in from a tight angle, but he sent his drive into the side-netting.
That came immediately after Harry Maguire’s poor back pass almost let in Werner, with Pickford coming to England’s rescue with a firm challenge.
Leroy Sane showed his class in the 21st minute with a superb dipping, curling shot with his left foot. It flashed just wide of Pickford and struck the underside of the bar before bouncing clear.
Two minutes later the Three Lions had a triple escape. First Pickford did really well to get down low to his left to deny Werner.
When the rebound went to Sane he looked sure to score, but Phil Jones somehow got in the way to block. Then Julian Draxler blazed the second rebound way over the bar.
It was the last action for Manchester United defender Jones, who seemed to pick up an injury early on, and he was replaced by another debutant in Liverpool’s Joe Gomez, which made it four on the night for Southgate’s side.
When England did get a chance to have a shot on goal, in the 36th minute, Rose’s effort struck John Stones when he failed to get out of the way.
Gomez was exposed in the 39th minute as he allowed Werner to get in behind him. The Leipzig star looked sure to score, keeping his right foot show low.
But once again that man Pickford proved more than a match for Werner, dropping down in a flash to his right to claw away the drive and then clutch the ball safely.
England, though, could have scored just before the break. Maguire picked out Abraham in the box and he turned Antonio Rudiger.
But the Chelsea defender managed to get in a half-block with fans groaning as the ball bobbled just wide of the post with Marc-Andre Ter Stegen wrong-footed.
England finished the half strongly, with new boy Ruben Loftus-Cheek producing a cracking ball over the top for Vardy to run onto. A lob of Ter Stegen was on, but Vardy got his angle wrong and wasted the chance.
But he did better in the 49th minute, meeting Trippier’s excellent cross with a firm header which Ter Stegen kept out by flicking out his right hand.
Although Abraham put in the effort he struggled to make an impact, and did well to last for an hour, being Marcus Rashford replaced him.
But Loftus-Cheek began to make a real impression on the match as it developed, looking more and more confident and striding forward with real purpose.