1990. 1996. 1998. 2004. 2006. 2012. Over the last 22 years, the shootout curse has followed England through six major tournaments. When it goes to penalties, everyone expexts England to lose. But Southgate’s team of young players managed to finally break free from the curse in last night’s match in the round of 16. Jordan Pickford stood for a save in the last penalty round that will go down in history – and England are going to play in the 2018 World Cup quarterfinals.
It all came down to penalties after a long and intense match against Colombia. The first half was kind of a slow-burning affair. None of the teams created any massive chances of scoring, and the physical game called for plenty of free-kicks and yellow cards. The second half of the game continued in the same spirit, up until Harry Kane was pushed in the penalty area, which resulted in a spot-kick for England.
Kane took good care of yet another penalty shot in this World Cup, and carried England to a lead. This was in the 57th minute, and England’s lead stood for a long time – but not quite until the end of the match. Colombias high pressure in the last minutes of the match paid off, when Mina equalizes in the 93rd minute and brought the match to extra time.
Pickford to be penalty hero
The extra time resulted in zero goals, which meant shootouts. Most englishmen probably wanted to stop watching at this point, expecting England to lose. Because England always loses at penalties. In six major championships over the last 22 years, penalties has been the reason of England being eliminated.
But this championship, the 2018 World Cup in Russia, came to be different. The shootout was to be decided in the fifth and final round, as both England and Colombia had scored 3 goals each after the four initial penalties. Carlos Bacca stepped up for Colombia’s final shot, which Jordan Pickford managed to steer away with an incredible save. Dier then went on to score on England’s fifth penalty, which brought England to their first shootout win in a World Cup ever!
The win means that the Three Lions have qualified fo the quarterfinals, and they will play against Sweden on Saturday the 7th, at 15:00. Use our odds comparison tool in order to find the best odds for the quarterfinal!
Skriven den 4 July, 2018