{"id":863195,"date":"2026-09-28T05:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T05:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863195\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T05:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T05:34:14","slug":"james-traffords-england-dream-burns-with-no-1-spot-finally-up-for-grabs-again-nations-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863195\/","title":{"rendered":"James Trafford\u2019s England dream burns with No 1 spot finally up for grabs again | Nations League"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Trafford looks genuinely affronted. The Leeds goalkeeper\u2019s reaction borders on incredulity. Was it a season of frustration for him at Manchester City<\/a> last time out, he is asked? A wasted year? \u201cI won two trophies,\u201d he says very simply and very firmly.<\/p>\n

Defiance is the stock in trade of a goalkeeper and Trafford has a nice line in it, on and off the pitch. Thrust into the England lineup against Spain at Wembley on Saturday <\/a>for only his third cap, he performed well, particularly during the opening 35 minutes when the world champions threatened to run riot. Trafford made two excellent saves that kept England in contention, laying the groundwork for their surge into a 2-1 half-time lead. They ended up losing 3-2 in the Nations League opener after Harry Kane missed a 54th-minute penalty for 3-1.<\/p>\n

The question to Trafford was valid because everybody remembers the situation. How he rejoined City, the club of his youth, from Burnley in July last year, ready to be Pep Guardiola\u2019s No 1; the replacement for Ederson, who departed after eight seasons of stellar service. And how, after three Premier League matches, Guardiola went out and signed Gianluigi Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain, installing him as his first-choice goalkeeper.<\/p>\n

Trafford played in the every round of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, keeping clean sheets in the finals of both competitions as City beat Arsenal and Chelsea, respectively. \u201cIt obviously wasn\u2019t ideal how it panned out but looking back \u2026 I got two trophies to my name that I played every game in,\u201d Trafford says. \u201cYou take the positives. You play the cards you\u2019re dealt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old is looking at a different hand now. It seems as though everything has changed for him since his move to Leeds in August. He has excelled for his new club in their unbeaten start to the Premier League season. No goalkeeper has more saves than his 20 in the competition, nor a higher save percentage than his 85.7%: he has conceded just three times in five games.<\/p>\n

Trafford can hear the knock of opportunity with England<\/a> because, for the first time in eight years, the No 1 position feels up for grabs. Jordan Pickford\u2019s grip on it has been tight since Sir Gareth Southgate turned to him for the 2018 World Cup. Pickford has won 91 caps, keeping 47 clean sheets.<\/p>\n

The Everton player has been the undisputed first-choice for so long that there was surprise when Thomas Tuchel started Trafford against Spain and also announced he would play him against Czechia in Prague on Tuesday night. The manager said Pickford would return for the final two matches of this Nations League<\/a> window \u2013 against Croatia in Rijeka and Czechia at Wembley.<\/p>\n

James Trafford has been in impressive form for Leeds this season. Photograph: Dylan Martinez\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Maybe it was not such a surprise given that Pickford did not totally convince at the World Cup over the summer. He was beaten from distance a few times when it was possible to wonder whether he might have done better. When Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s shot fizzed past him for Argentina in the semi-final defeat, Jude Bellingham could be seen to exclaim: \u201cIt\u2019s [in] the middle of the goal.\u201d The England midfielder was not alone in thinking that.<\/p>\n

Pickford let one in at his near post against the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32 and there were too many times when his sorties from his penalty area led to heart flutters among the England supporters. There was the impression that he was sailing close to a grisly error. It must be said that it did not happen.<\/p>\n

It is impossible not to read into Tuchel\u2019s decision to share the minutes between Trafford and Pickford \u2013 and especially to pitch the former in against Spain<\/a>. Tuchel said he wanted to see how Trafford handled a high-profile occasion and the answer was: pretty well. Everybody saw and appreciated his one-on-one block from Ferran Torres in the 16th minute. Not everybody noticed the touch he got to Dani Olmo\u2019s low drive on 35 minutes, mainly because the referee did not give a corner.<\/p>\n

Trafford is proud of his northern roots; he hails from farming stock in Cumbria. He is down-to-earth, a little unreconstructed. Does he feel his status has changed since his fast start at Leeds? Bah, he wants to say. \u201cIt\u2019s all an imaginary thing, status and that,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s how you carry yourself and how you perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Has Trafford taken extra confidence into the England camp? \u201cNo. Your ability doesn\u2019t change whether you\u2019re playing or not playing. It\u2019s just how you think of it in your head.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is nothing imaginary about Trafford\u2019s battle with Pickford, which comes against the backdrop of a dearth of English goalkeepers. With Dean Henderson injured, Tuchel was left to call up Jason Steele as his third-choice. The 36-year-old Brighton goalkeeper has played once for his club this season. He made a total of 10 appearances for them across the previous two campaigns. Who else is there? Aaron Ramsdale has slipped to fourth-choice at Southampton. Nick Pope is not playing at Newcastle. Carl Rushworth has struggled at Coventry this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Picks are both northern lads and we get along really well,\u201d Trafford says. \u201cIt\u2019s just the reality in football that everyone competes for the starting XI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trafford is loving life at Leeds and he does accept that playing regularly has made a difference for him with England. \u201cMake no illusions. There are not many players that don\u2019t play that start for any national team.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so the dream burns. \u201cIt is every goalkeeper\u2019s dream and every footballer\u2019s dream to play for England and start for England,\u201d Trafford says. \u201cEveryone believes they can start. They are just trying to prove that every day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Trafford looks genuinely affronted. The Leeds goalkeeper\u2019s reaction borders on incredulity. Was it a season of frustration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-863195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}