Jordan Pickford was England's hero as he became only the second England goalkeeper in a shoot-out to save a penalty and help England win against Colombia and he had help from a secret weapon.
Going into the penalty shoot-out with Colombia last night England had a terrible record at spot kicks, not exactly a surprise to anyone watching as a nation once again expected the worst.
The tradition of losing on penalties started in 1990 where Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle's failures to score saw the Three Lions go out of the World Cup in the semi-final stage.
A win against Spain, the only previous shoot-out win, came next before another loss to Germany in another semi-final. 1998's second round defeat against Argentina was next up.
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Back-to-back penalty losses to Portugal in 2004 and 2006 followed and finally the loss against Italy in 2010.
When Jordan Henderson missed his spot kick everyone would have been fearing the worst but Pickford's save swung the tie back in England's favour after another Colombia 'pen' hit the crossbar.
The Everton keeper's one save made him the hero and he was actually helped by goalkeeper coach Martyn Margetson. According to the Mirror Margetson swapped the England number one's water bottle for one with instructions on which side each Colombia taker would go written on.
The swap happened as Gareth Southgate was talking to the players about the order of the penalty takers, at the end of extra time, and the 24 year old had the bottle with him during the shoot-out too.
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Speaking after the match the former Sunderland player revealed to ITV that he'd done the research needed for each taker, saying, "I did a lot of research on them for starters. Falcao is the only one who didn't go his way.
"I just set my way and went with power. I've got power and agility I don't care if I'm not the biggest keeper but I've got the power and agility to help us get around the goal and I'm very good at it. It's about making the save and being in the moment."
Interestingly despite marking Falcao out as the only person not to go their usual way Pickford did go the wrong way for Luis Muriel's effort.
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Of course all that matters is he went the right way for Bacca's shot and saved it, all thanks to a water bottle.
Featured Image Credit:Topics:ย Football News, Penalties, Colombia, World Cup news, England, Jordan Pickford, World Cup
