1 August, 2018 - 18:41

How Important Was England's Penalty Shoot-Out Victory Against Colombia?

Before their last 16 victory against Colombia, England had failed to win a World Cup penalty shoot-out in three attempts and with squads down the years packed full of competent penalty takers it was quite clear that the problem had become more of a psychological stumbling block than anything else. When Eric Dier smashed home the winning penalty against Colombia in their last 16 game on Tuesday, the neutral onlooker could have been forgiven for thinking that England had just lifted the Jules Rimet trophy after seeing the celebrations both in Russia and back home. However, the importance of this win to England cannot be overstated.

England’s Penalty Shoot-Out Record Is Now Rather Respectable

Despite only winning one out four penalty shoot-outs in World Cup competitions, their 25% success ratio is exactly the same as that of Italy and Spain, after the latter bowed out of this year’s competition on spot kicks to hosts Russia. Quite bizarrely, with Harry Kane putting England 1-0 up against the Colombians, England have now scored all eleven penalties they’ve been awarded in normal time at World Cups, which is further proof that the shoot-out problem is mental as opposed to physical and that the added pressure of a sudden death shoot-out was the root cause of England’s problems.

You Could Do Worse Than Bet On England To Go All The Way
With pre tournament favourites Germany and Spain going by the wayside, the draw seems to be opening up nicely for England. For those wanting to back England to go all the way in the tournament, have a peek at this post about winner casino, who, aside from hosting over 300 top quality Playtech games and slots, also run a comprehensive sportsbook where you can bet on single matches and major sporting tournaments including the 2018 World Cup. With Sweden up next, England look like a good bet to reach the next stage of the tournament at least and with Russia or Croatia waiting in the wings in the semi-final, who knows how far the Three Lions can go?

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Source: FIFA World Cup via Facebook

Confidence Is Key and England Have Plenty Of It

There is a growing feeling in footballing circles that this may just be England’s year. The fact that the team had become synonymous with penalty shoot-out losses was becoming a real problem for the squad and provided the media with plenty of ammunition - now that the monkey is off their back, the players are evidently starting to believe that they can go all the way and lift the trophy. Can they do it? We’ll have to wait and see.

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Author: casazza

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