England Under-20s World Cup hero Freddie Woodman reveals all about THAT famous penalty save
Newcastle United goalkeeper determined to keep his feet on the ground after historic Three Lions victory
FREDDIE WOODMAN was the penalty hero as England’s kids won the Under-20s World Cup.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the only goal of the game to beat Venezuela in South Korea.
But it was Gareth Southgate’s godson who made sure of victory for Paul Simpson‘s side with a world-class stop late on from Watford starlet Adalberto Penaranda.
Newcastle keeper Woodman told SunSport: “It’s crazy, just crazy to make the save like that – it hasn’t sunk in yet.
“I was trying to tell the ref it wasn’t a penalty and to look at VAR and he came back and said they’d looked and it was.
“So I quickly had to switch my mind on and think back to all the videos I’d been watching of their penalties.
“I’d watched them all week with the analysts, wrote it down memorised it and done all the homework.
“I remembered his penalty and where he liked to put them so I dived that way – and he went down the middle instead. But I stuck my arm out and luckily the ball hit it and it went across the goal.
“I saved a penalty in the semi against Costa Rica but they scored from the rebound so I was just so happy that didn’t happen again as I’d have been devastated.
“I read something a long time again that you play and act on instinct – so I wasn’t thinking about anything.
“I just stuck my arm out and got lucky, on another day it could have hit me and gone in. I’m just thankful that it didn’t and we won the World Cup and it’s a moment I won’t forget for a long time and hopefully the nation won’t either.”
Woodman has previous when it comes to big saves for his country.
He produced a vital stop for the Three Lions back in 2014 to help England win the U17s European Championship with a shoot-out victory over Holland.
But the modest 20-year-old refuses to big up his heroics.
Woodman said: “People say about big game players but to be honest I try and play every game like it’s a World Cup final.
“That might sound stupid but I try to treat every game the same and it didn’t get caught up in all the hype before this.
“I just tried to stay calm and keep my team in the game and at the end it’s a great achievement by the lads.
“It’s a testament to the boys in front of me that I have come away with the Golden Glove as it was a real team effort and I managed to reap the rewards of that.”
It was the Three Lions’ first victory in any Fifa tournament since 1966.
Expectations will now be raised after their triumph in the Far East.
But Woodman knows he and his team-mates still have a lot to learn.
He added: “I do think it’s a special group but we are still very young and we hopefully have a long time left in our careers.
“If people want to jump on and label us the new golden generation then that will build the pressure up – but this group has dealt with pressure very well since we were young and it’s another goal we’ve ticked off.
“Now we have to set another one as a team and go again.
“I’m going to celebrate this with my family and then get back to work.
“I’ll sit down with my dad again and set some new targets for next season and get back to doing my job.
“I’ve still got such a long way to go and have lots of goals I want to achieve and I’m going to have to work hard to get them.”