Mr. Gareth Southgate’s team was trailing 1-0 in
Gelsenkirchen on Sunday when Mr. Bellingham produced a remarkable overhead kick
to equalize in the 95th minute.
Within the first minute of extra time, Mr. Kane successfully
headed in his 65th international goal, propelling England into a
quarter-final encounter with Switzerland scheduled for Saturday.
“Two superstars, Jude and Harry come up with the goods,” on
Monday, Pickford spoke with journalists at England’s training facility in
Germany.
“Jude is the golden boy again with the overhead kick to keep
us in the game, keep us in the tournament. We never say die and that’s what it
was last night.”
Despite reaching the quarterfinals, England’s performances
have been subject to substantial critique.
The team, which was widely regarded as the frontrunner to
win the tournament, has displayed signs of exhaustion and a lack of innovative
strategies in each of the four matches played thus far.
“(A) rollercoaster but we got over the line,” added Pickford
on his emotions during the Slovakia match. “It doesn’t matter how you play,
you’ve got to show resilience and win the match and that’s what we did.”
An enhanced performance will be essential against the Swiss
team, who remain undefeated throughout the tournament and effortlessly defeated
the reigning champions, Italy, with a score of 2-0 in their round of 16 match
on Saturday.
Despite the fact that England has gone 58 years without
winning a major tournament, Pickford pointed to Portugal’s unexpected victory
at Euro 2016 as proof that England does not need to be flawless in order to
achieve this goal.
“I think if you look at past tournaments, in 2016 Portugal
drew all three group games and went onto win the tournament,” said the Everton
goalkeeper.
“We’ve just got to keep fighting, keep believing and train
hard going into a tough game on Saturday.”
Luke Shaw participated fully in training on Monday,
potentially making him available for selection in the quarter-finals, according
to Southgate.
The Manchester United left-back has been sidelined since
February due to an injury and has not played for either club or country during
that time.
The decision by Southgate to include him as the sole natural
left-back in a 26-man squad has attracted significant criticism. Shaw may be
compelled to take action promptly as Kieran Trippier was compelled to withdraw
due to an injury sustained during the second half of the match against
Slovakia.