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Woodman lauds team effort after World Cup win
Written by Tom Easterby
Newcastle United goalkeeper Freddie Woodman was quick to pay tribute to his England Under-20 teammates after his heroics saw him pick up the Golden Glove award as the Young Lions won the World Cup in South Korea.
Woodman’s superb penalty save during Sunday’s final against Venezuela helped England hold on to their 1-0 lead, and enabled them to lift the country’s first World Cup since the senior side’s triumph on home soil in 1966.
The 20-year-old stopper, who has spent time out on loan at Crawley Town and Kilmarnock in the past few seasons, conceded just two goals in the competition, playing in six of their seven games on his way to collecting the prize for the tournament’s best goalkeeper.
And Woodman says it was very much the efforts of the collective that allowed him to pick up the Golden Glove.
“It’s testament to the lads in front of me. I only conceded two goals because of those lads and every single one of them put their body on the line, we communicated well and kept the ball well,” he told thefa.com.
“Everyone looks at me and I’ve come away with the Golden Glove, but this trophy is about the defenders and the lads in front of me who have worked so hard to help me achieve that.
“But it’s a great honour – to come to a World Cup and come away with the Golden Glove, it’s a feeling I can’t really describe.
“I set goals for myself and I told my dad I was going to win it, so to receive it today was an amazing feeling and for him to be here, I think he was a bit teary when I told him I’d won it.
“I set the goal at the beginning of the tournament that I wanted to achieve it and now it’s here, it’s a great feeling.”
Woodman – the son of former Magpies goalkeeping coach Andy – was one of two Newcastle players to lift the World Cup on Sunday, with forward Adam Armstrong also part of former United coach Paul Simpson’s talented young squad.
And he said that bringing the trophy back to England had always been the aim, ever since qualification for the finals was sealed.
“To be the champions of the world is amazing. It’s a great achievement for the lads here and for the country and hopefully we’ve done a lot of people proud,” said Woodman.
“We set goals at the beginning of the tournament and last year, as soon as we had qualified, which seems like a long time ago, we wanted to come here and win it.
“I thought we put on a good performance and we saw out the result so we’re coming home with the trophy so it’s a brilliant feeling.”
"It’s a great honour – to come to a World Cup and come away with the Golden Glove, it’s a feeling I can’t really describe."