A round-up of how Everton players fared on international duty with a Blues trio all qualifying for next year's World Cup finals
Jordan Pickford and Declan Rice celebrate in the dressing room following the World Cup qualifying match between Latvia and England at Daugava Stadium on October 14, 2025 in Riga
Jordan Pickford and Declan Rice celebrate in the dressing room following the World Cup qualifying match between Latvia and England at Daugava Stadium on October 14, 2025 in Riga
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Everton have hit back at Lee Dixon after he questioned why Jordan Pickford hasn’t joined a “bigger club” as the goalkeeper clinched World Cup qualification with England.
The Mancunian, who was part of the England side that failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup – the only previous time the tournament was played in the USA – made his comments while on commentary duty alongside Sam Matterface for ITV’s live broadcast of the 5-0 win for Thomas Tuchel’s side in Latvia that secured the Three Lions’ place in next summer’s finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
In response, Everton’s official account posted on X (formerly Twitter) to set the record straight with a message that read: “9 top-flight titles, 5 FA Cups, 1 European title, one of football’s most-passionate fanbases, a world-class new stadium. Everton FC – a big club: past, present & future,” before tagging in Dixon’s account on the same social media platform and at the time of publication, the Blues’ tweet has been viewed over half a million times.
Pickford, who the ECHO understands is expected to sign a new contract at Hill Dickinson Stadium this week to effectively commit himself to Everton for the rest of his career, was winning his 80th England cap in Riga with all of those appearances coming while he has been a Blues player. Having broken Gordon Banks’ 59-year-old record for consecutive clean sheets for England in the previous game – a 3-0 victory over Wales on Thursday, the 31-year-old Blues ace extended the new all-time best figure to nine matches.
Everton pair Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye also secured qualification with Senegal as the latter netted in their 4-0 home win over Mauritania at Stade Me Abdoulate Wade in Diamniadio in the last of their 10 Africa Group B fixtures. A quickfire brace either side of the interval from former Liverpool player Sadio Mane, now of Saudi club Al-Nassr, put the hosts in command and the Blues ace added a third on 64 minutes with a spectacular solo goal which brought back memories of his effort at Goodison Park last season in the 3-2 success against Tottenham Hotspur.
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Picking up the ball on the halfway line, the 25-year-old exchanged passes with Nicolas Jackson before slaloming past three opponents, racing into the six-yard box and beating the keeper with a cool left-foot finish. Habib Diarra completed the route five minutes from full-time with Ndiaye having already made way for Cheikh Sabaly on 78 minutes before Gueye, 36, was replaced by Pathe Ciss on 88 minutes.
Meanwhile, Everton also had another duo in the starting line-up for the Republic of Ireland in their 1-0 European Group F win over Armenia at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. Evan Ferguson, who is on a season-long loan at Roma from Brighton & Hove Albion netted the only goal of the night on 70 minutes as Seamus Coleman, winning his 75th cap, played as a right wing-back with club colleague Jake O’Brien operating on the right of three central defenders.
Coleman, who turned 37 on Saturday, the same day as he played for his country for the first time in over a year against Portugal, had been substituted for Chiedozie Ogbene on 65 minutes having been shown a yellow card on 48 minutes. O’Brien played the full game, also picking up a booking seven minutes from the end.