Kieran Trippier has revealed the secret behind England’s dramatic penalty shootout success over Colombia in the 2018 World Cup Round of 16 – “practice and practice and practice”.
Jordan Pickford helped England end their penalty shootout hoodoo and reach the World Cup quarter-finals at the expense of Colombia in Moscow.
Things looked set to go pear-shaped when Jordan Henderson's penalty was saved, only for Mateus Uribe's spot-kick to rattle the bar and goalkeeper Pickford to deny Carlos Bacca.
But Trippier scored and his Tottenham team-mate Eric Dier also kept his composure in the Spartak Stadium cauldron, propelling the Three Lions to a famous 4-3 shootout win after it ended 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra time.
“I thought we played really well in the first half and for their goal, it was a mistake by myself,” Trippier said after the match. “I thought he was going to head it straight in, but I could not adjust when he headed it down, I was gutted.
“I keep going on about the spirit of the team, we carried on, we believed and in the shootout, we have some great takers.
“There is always going to be a shootout. It is just training. Every session of training, when we are fatigued at the end, we practice. And we have scored some great ones in training. We practised and practised and it paid off.
“I had a plan. I knew the spot I was going to put it in. I had practiced putting it there. There's no sense in trying to change it, confusing yourself.”
