“It was a tremendous blow”, he told Mundo Deportivo. Now back to full form and fitness, the Colombian skipper is a very risky player and one that certainly Gareth Southgate must have spoken about at length in his team meetings.
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“We were trying to download the app to watch it or considering scaling the fence to get to the nearest pub, but then it came back on so we were rewarded for our patience”.
Maradona, who captained Argentina to victory at the 1986 World Cup, said he was surprised Geiger had been chosen for the match.
Seven of England’s nine goals so far at this World Cup have come from set-pieces but Sweden’s aerial ability could threaten to nullify this option more than most opponents to date.
Football fans in Reading were jubilant after England’s penalty shoot-out win against Colombia.
But Stuart “Nobby” Clarke, 60, backed England to pick up the prestigious trophy if the Three Lions beat Colombia at Spartak Stadium.
The South Americans had been getting away with blatant holding and wrestling at each of England’s many corners and the referee’s patience finally snapped when Carlos Sanchez hauled down tournament leading scorer Kane once too often. As they contemplated 30 minutes of extra time, Southgate huddled his young squad together and encouraged them to press the reset button.
“Penalty shootouts are a lot about mentality, and obviously we know England haven’t done great in the past, so it was nice to get that one off our back and it’ll give us huge belief going forward”.
“His athleticism around goal is excellent and again he executed the planning in the penalty shootout”.
Pickford succeeded where Peter Shilton, David Seaman, and Paul Robinson failed as the 1990, 1998 and 2006 World Cup campaigns ended in shootout losses.
Dier sealed the 4-3 shootout win which saw England through to the mouth-watering quarter-final against Sweden in Samara this Saturday. “It’s very clear to me, Geiger, an American, how curious that he was the one who invented a penalty for Brazil [in a 1-1 friendly draw against Colombia in 2012], that Nigeria accused him at Federation Internationale de Football Association”.
Wilmar Barrios was booked for leaning his head into the chest of Jordan Henderson as the game grew into an increasingly fiesty affair.
But the Three Lions are heavy favourites to progress, according to bookmaker Ladbrokes, which said it was the most most popular England match ever with punters.
In a group famously described as “EASY” – England, Algeria, Slovenia, “Yanks” (United States) – by one tabloid newspaper, they could only finish second which meant a last-16 encounter with Germany.
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With both sides failing to score in extra time, the game went to penalties – leaving England fans across the country on the edge of their seats.
