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Football

03rd Jul 2018

Ian Wright was all of us when Dier scored England’s winning penalty against Colombia

James Dawson

IT’S COMING HOME

You were nervous, weren’t you, we all were. After over 90 minutes of domination and a quarter-final looking all but sealed, they had to bag an equalizer. It all seemed so much like the England of old. It would be 1998 all over again. 2006. 2014. We were going to throw it away.

England had never won a World Cup penalty shootout, after all. Never in their entire history. And three penalties in there was Jordan Henderson – saved – putting Colombia just one away from match point. But then something happened. The Lions roared.

At long last it wasn’t England set to fall apart. First Uribe hit the woodwork, then Kieran Trippier stepped up and put it away. 3-3, four taken.

Then there he was, Pickford, looking confident as Bacca placed it on the spot.

The Colombian runs up and the Englishman saves.

Everything’s changed – all we need is Eric Dier, subbed on to consolidate what we thought would be Kane’s winner, to score it. Could you even watch it? Ian Wright couldn’t. But his reaction afterwards said it all.

It’s coming home.