England vs Colombia, World Cup 2018: Jordan Pickford hits back after Thibaut Courtois’ criticism
Pickford saved the vital penalty to allow Eric Dier to score the winner
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jordan Pickford has put his penalty shootout heroics down to the extensive research and swipes back at Thibaut Courtois who mocked the England goalkeeper's height when conceded from Adnan Januzaj.
Harry Kane scored from the spot in the 56th minute against Colombia, but England were denied a win in the third minute of added time when Yerry Mina equalised from a corner.
Kane and Rashford scored their penalties before Jordan Henderson saw his effort saved. Mateus Uribe's effort for Colombia cannoned off the bar and Kieran Trippier levelled the score. Pickford saved Carlos Bacca's effort to set up Dier to win England's first ever penalty shootout.
"I did a lot of research on them for starters. Falcao is the only one who didn’t go his way," Pickford revealed on ITV.
After Pickford let Januzaj's shot sail above him in England's 1-0 defeat against Belgium, Courtois said: "The goalkeeper is 10cm smaller than me. I would have caught it. He was too bust throwing his legs in the air."
However, Pickford hit back at the Chelsea goalkeeper and justified his saving technique. "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."
"We reset our minds and work rate," said Pickford when asked about how England felt going into extra-time. "We just never stopped but if it had to go to penalties we knew we were capable of winning."
Dier scored the decisive penalty and paid tribute to England's number one's attitude. "You know he’s a fantastic goalkeeper, fantastic attitude and he deserves everything. He was fantastic in the penalty shootout. He’s big in goal, he’s been brilliant in training and he’s taken it into the game."
After missing a good chance to give England the lead deep into extra time when he headed over after being left unmarked inside the penalty area, Dier said he owed his winning penalty to his teammates. "I felt like I had to score after that header I missed at the end there. I’m thankful I scored that," the Tottenham midfielder said. "I’ve never really been in the situation before."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments