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Special water bottle helps England beat Switzerland

TB (according to VnExpress) July 7, 2024 09:02

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford recorded the Swiss player's penalty kick routine and stuck it on his water bottle, contributing to England's 5-3 win in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.

Bình nước ghi chú cách bắt 11m của Pickford.
Water bottle notes Pickford's penalty save in Switzerland's Euro 2024 quarter-final match

In the four penalty kicks he faced yesterday, Pickford followed instructions three times and acted on his own once.

In the first turn, by following the instructions on the water bottle that said "dive to the left", Pickford blocked Manuel Akanji's shot, giving England an early advantage. In the second turn, despite having noted "pretend to dive to the right, then to the left", Pickford did the opposite and let Fabian Schar shoot into the net. If he had followed the instructions on the water bottle, the England goalkeeper would have guessed correctly and could have saved the goal.

Pickford followed the instructions to "dive left" and correctly guessed the direction of former Liverpool player Xherdan Shaqiri's shot. But the ball was strong and dangerous, leaving Pickford unable to save. Switzerland's final shot was taken by Zeki Amdouni. Pickford took the shot with the instructions to "hold position, dive to the bottom left corner", but Amdouni shot low into the middle of the goal.

Pickford's one save was enough to send England through to the semi-finals, with all five of his teammates - Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold - all making saves.

Pickford cản cú đá của Akanji
Pickford saves Akanji's shot in 5-2 win over Switzerland to book Euro 2024 semi-final spot

This is the second time England have successfully converted all their penalties (the first being the win over Spain at Euro 1996), in ten shootouts at major tournaments (Euro and World Cup).

Meanwhile, Pickford has saved four of the 14 penalties he has faced in shootouts at major tournaments, more than double the total saved by all other England goalkeepers combined between 1990 and 2012 (two saves in 36).

Taking notes of opponents' penalty habits and sticking them on water bottles every game is one of Pickford's familiar preparations for matches. He used this method in the Euro 2021 final against Italy. This careful preparation helped Pickford successfully save two kicks from Andrea Belotti and Jorginho. But England lost 2-3 on aggregate, with Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missing three decisive kicks.

The 30-year-old goalkeeper had previously used this trick in the match against Colombia in the round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup. He even used a towel to hide his water bottle from his colleague David Ospina. Pickford correctly predicted Cuadrado's shot, although he failed to block it, and blocked Carlos Bacca's shot, contributing greatly to England's 4-3 win in the penalty shootout to reach the quarter-finals. It was also the first time the "Three Lions" won by penalty shootout at the World Cup.

Yesterday's win over Switzerland puts England through to the semi-finals, where they will face the Netherlands - who came from behind to beat Türkiye 2-1 in the other quarter-final.

TB (according to VnExpress)
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Special water bottle helps England beat Switzerland