Everton’s £30million man celebrated his big-money move from Sunderland by saving an 82nd-minute penalty from Linas Wahlqvist to rescue a point in England’s Group A opener.
He was the perfect man to rain on Sweden’s parade after they had refused to allow the pitch to be watered prior to kick off, claiming it would give England a “competitive advantage”. However that plan came unstuck when the heavens promptly opened to give the surface a soaking.
It didn’t help Aidy Boothroyd’s boys much, though. The Young Lions, looking to follow in the footsteps of the World Cup-winning Under 20s, managed only a single shot on target.
England have not won this tournament since 1984 and failed to get out of the group stage in the last three finals. They face another uphill battle now.
With England manager Gareth Southgate watching in the stands, they failed to impress against the reigning champions and must now do better against Slovakia and hosts Poland.
Only the three group winners are guaranteed to go through and Boothroyd has some work to do because without Pickford’s heroics England were staring defeat in the face.
They beat the Swedes in the 2015 group stage but it was the Scandinavians who then went on to lift the trophy while the Young Lions went home early with tails between their legs.
Sweden were unbeaten in qualifying this time around, topping a group which included Spain, and their 5,000 fans massively outnumbered the England contingent in the stadium.
But it was all England for the first 28 minutes with Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham and Norwich winger Jacob Murphy shining brightest.
Then, out of nowhere, Sweden produced a glorious chance when Bristol City’s Gustav Engvall combined with Pawel Cibicki, who skied a shot from six yards over the crossbar.
Murphy then came within inches of the opener when he smashed one from 25 yards which beat Sweden keeper Anton Cajtoft but sailed just too high.
With a little bit more composure Abraham, who hit 26 goals on loan for Bristol City last season, would have scored just before half-time but spinning, he sliced it over instead.
England then survived a scare in the 57th minute when Cibicki hit one against the crossbar from the edge of the box with Pickford beaten.
Malmo striker Cibikci was preferred to Carlos Strandberg in the starting line-up despite Boothroyd picking out the latter as Sweden’s danger man.
He certainly justified his selection, but it wasn’t long before Strandberg was also into the action.
Chelsea’s Lewis Baker wasted another half-chance with a poor finish.
Strandberg hit the side netting for the Swedes but Leicester’s Ben Chilwell then fired in a shot which took a wicked deflection over Cajtoft before hitting the crossbar.
Ward-Prowse forced Cajtoft into a diving save with a spinning free kick before Mason Holgate robbed Strandberg with a brilliant last-ditch saving tackle at the other end.
Then came the real drama. Chilwell couldn’t believe it when he brought down Wahlqvist in the 82nd minute and German referee Tobias Stieler pointed to the spot.
But Pickford stood tall to save Wahlqvist’s poorly hit penalty and England lived to fight another day.