England do it the hard way
Dier is Lions’ penalty hero
ERIC DIER claimed he “had to score” as he buried England’s penalty hoodoo last night.
After having victory snatched from their grasp in stoppage time, Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions succeeded where so many England teams have failed in the past in a penalty shoot-out.
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford brilliantly saved Colombia’s final spot kick one-handed from Carlos Bacca, leaving Dier to hold his nerve and beat David Ospina, sending England into a quarter-final with Sweden on Saturday.
And hero Dier said: “It was a nervous one. I’ve never really been in a situation like that before but felt I had to score
after missing the header at the end so I’m just thankful that I scored!
“Jordan is a fantastic goalkeeper and deserves everything.
“His attitude is brilliant and he’s been brilliant in training and taken it into the game. “To get knocked down like we did is difficult to come back from. We knew what we had to do and stayed calm. “We never panicked. We were ready for that.” Pickford’s save came after Colombia had scored three penalties, but also hit the bar. And the Toffees keeper was confident he could come to England’s rescue after he made a stunning save in the 90th minute.
Pickford said: “I did all my research.
I’ve got power and agility. I don’t care if
I’m not the biggest keeper because it’s about being there in the moment and making the save and I was.
“It’s all about the set position and I got a hand to it.
“We knew we had this game, even if it had to go to penalties, we knew we were capable of winning this match.”
England had to overcome some dirty tricks from Colombia who had six players booked and were lucky not to be reduced to 10 men in the first half when Wilmar Barrios headbutted Jordan Henderson in the box while waiting for a free-kick. Remarkably, referee Mark Geiger showed only a yellow card.