WE’LL BUILD A WALL, SAYS SANCHEZ
COLOMBIA defender Carlos Sanchez has warned England that the South Americans have got what it takes to knock the nation that invented football out of the World Cup.
Sanchez, the one-time Aston Villa flop who received death threats when he was sent off just three minutes into the 2-1 defeat by Japan, feels England will have the weight of history behind them when the teams clash in Moscow.
But he also believes Colombia’s experience will give them an edge on Gareth Southgate’s young lions – even if they without their own talisman, James Rodriguez.
Sanchez said: “We are not favourites. England are the country that invented football. What I can say is that in my
FA technical director Dan Ashworth has revealed the research team broke down the whole process – from the dreaded walk to the spot, to reactions, to scoring from a successful kick. One of the conclusions is that in past failures England players have rushed their kicks – and not composed themselves enough like penalty king Cristiano Ronaldo, who puts himself in “the zone”. England have lost in the 1990 World Cup semi-finals to Germany, in the Euro 96 semis – when Southgate missed – also to Germany. In the 1998 World Cup they went out on spot-kicks to Argentina, at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup they fell to Portugal, and at Euro 2012 to Italy. Ashworth said: “Gareth would joke that he’s hardly the man to lead our research. But actually he is. He’s very insightful and very detailed in his thought processes. I’m not going to give you any secrets but you can break the penalty shoot-out down. “So when the whistle goes you’ve got a couple of minutes to prepare, so how do you do that? Where do you do that on the pitch? “Who’s involved? Where do you stand as a team during the shoot-out? From where do you begin the walk? “Then what happens when the whistle goes. In the past English players are in too much of a hurry. “When the referee blows his whistle, you’ve got as long as you want to take the penalty. As a nation over the years we’ve been too quick.” experience, England are a country with a lot of history.
“They are very structured, they have huge attacking power and are defensively very well organised.
“But Colombia have been at that level also. I’m calm and I’m sure we have the weapons to beat England.”
The 32-year-old who plays in Spain with Espanyol, has urged his team-mates not to think their task will be made easier if they can shackle five-goal Harry Kane.
“With all respect to Harry Kane, the reality is that we’re not just facing him, it’s the whole team we must take care of,”said Sanchez.
“We must make a wall so that England cannot get through. Then we can benefit from the experience and quality of our attacking players. We will work hard to get the result we need.”