World Cup 2018: Jordan Pickford produces incredible penalty save in England win over Colombia – days after ‘too small’ jibe
JORDAN PICKFORD was an England hero as the Three Lions won their first ever World Cup penalty shootout.
It comes days after the Everton goalkeeper was labelled 'too small' by Belgium's Thibaut Courtois.
Pickford produced a stunning save to set Eric Dier up to score the winning penalty against Colombia and secure a quarter-final spot.
His heroics sets up a tie with Sweden as England continue their bid for a first World Cup triumph in 52 years.
And Pickford will be smiling at Courtois, who mocked the 24-year-old for being too small after failing to save Adnan Januzaj's winner against Belgium.
The Chelsea shot-stopper remarked: "The goalkeeper is 10cm smaller than me. I would have caught it. He was too busy throwing his legs in the air."
Pickford joins David Seaman as the only other English goalkeeper to save a penalty in a World Cup
All you need to know about Pickford
Pickford became the third most expensive goalkeeper ever last summer when he joined Everton for £30m from Sunderland.
He was raised up in the North-East, in a normal upbringing playing football on the streets of Washington, Tyne and Wear.
The 24-year-old the Black Cats academy aged just eight, rising through their ranks where he made a name for himself.
Pickford played for England across six different youth levels, starting with the Under-16s before getting his first call-up for the senior team in August 2017.
He is dating childhood sweatheart Megan Davison, who was snapped in the crowd during the Colombia match.
Fans were quick to remind the world of Pickford's talent, despite being too small.
Victory in the shootout was England's first in a World Cup, with Pickford becoming only the second Three Lions goalkeeper to keep out a penalty in the tournament, after David Seaman in 1998.
After the match, Pickford was quick to hit back at Courtois over his 6ft 1in stature.
He said: “We knew we were capable of winning. 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.”
JORDAN PICKFORD WATCH
From DAVID COVERDALE in Moscow
a) Positioning: 4/5Right decision not to come for the corner which Yerry Mina scored from. Raced off his line when Radamel Falcao was played through in extra-time. Made himself available when team-mates needed to pass it back to him.
b) Shot-stopping: 5/5Showed all his skill in the penalty shoot-out with a stunning save from Carlos Bacca's spot-kick. In normal time, did brilliantly to tip away Mateus Uribe’s surprise long-range shot, leading to the corner which Mina headed home.
c) Aerial prowess: 5/5His opposite number David Ospina faced an aerial bombardment. But Pickford barely had a cross to deal with and Colombia’s first corner came in injury time – and produced the goal.
d) Distribution: 3/5His punts forward were not as accurate as we know they can be. Did not really get a chance to kick out of his hands, which he prefers. But did not put a foot wrong with his short passes and touch and control were spot on.
e) Verdict: 5/5England’s hero. Having had nothing to do all game, he proved he was alert in the last minute when Uribe tried his luck. And then, when it mattered most, he pulled it out of the bag in the penalty shoot-out. After a tough few days, his confidence will now be sky high.
England had earlier gone ahead, thanks to a Harry Kane penalty.
But Colombian defender Yerry Mina equalised in injury time, with the Three Lions minutes away from victory.
England coach Gareth Southgate, 47, was determined to halt England’s spot- kick jinx after being haunted by his own penalty flop against Germany, which put England out of Euro 96.
He said last night: “Fantastic. I think we deserved it as well.
“Shootouts are tough. We had talked long and hard about owning the process of a shootout.
“They kept calm. The players have taken it all on board, it’s a special moment for us.”
Although Pickford's save will be remembered for some time, his save prior to the Barcelona star's goal has been hailed as one of the best saves of the tournament.
And Twitter was not going to let anyone forget it.
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