"It was only he who could break the English curse"

SPARTAK STADION, MOSKVA: At half-past one in the evening, English players came out of the closet and fled in front of the fans who were still standing and singing on the stand. He has approached three blocks since the eighth finals were over, but it was an evening to enjoy.

Someone left and greeted family and friends. They gave each other hugs, the relief was enormous.

1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2012.

When Jordan Henderson missed 11 meters, England warned that 2018 should also enter the nightmare.

The list of years when England smoked a championship during a penalty shootout. Liverpool captain fired right, Colombian goaltender David Ospina threw the right way and saved masterfully.

No. Now. Once again, the English people despaired.

But a few minutes later, they held each other in the arms and on the speaker "We still believe (…) He is coming home".

A curse was broken. There is still reason to believe. England is still in the World Cup

A different gang

It was spoken before the championship that there is another English team that has traveled to Russia.

There are fewer stars, it is a young and hungry gang who knows how to value and prioritize values ​​such as unity and community. The absence of major profiles allows the team to rely on other success criteria to succeed.

When Mateus Uribe and Carlos Bacca missed Colombia, Eric Dier had the opportunity to do something that an English player has not done for decades.

He could decide on a penalty shot in his favor.

And this time he became jubilant and not desperate. In light blue shirt and dark blue vest, coach Gareth Southgate took part in the celebration.

Rare are those who know better than him how much the players had to face tremendous mental pressure as they walked from the midfield up to the 11 meter mark.

It was he who missed the seminal crucial EM field in 1996. So he did everything in his power to prepare his boys better than he was there. 22 years ago.

After all, he's been thinking about this boom every day since. That's why he was only one who could break the curse.

The handles that ensured success

Southgate is a modern football man. It has been important to him that players dare to face their own fears, they must be honest with their weaknesses and weaknesses.

He let players meet British Navy soldiers to understand what they know when they represent the country and in stressful situations. Of course, there is a huge difference between being at war and playing a football match. However, after Denmark knocked out the World Cup in the round of 16 on Sunday, Åge Hareide showed that Norwegian players had a pulse and adrenaline rush at the same level as soldiers in a war zone [19659022]. completely different from the practice of penalties than to take them in front of a large Colombian yellow wall that is doing everything in its power to get you bombed.

Therefore, Hareide believed that it was useless to practice such situations, but Southgate was of a different opinion. He tried to do as many situations as possible at the training.

Since March, he has prepared the troop for this situation.

Had to improve

Players and coaches made noise and made their way to disturb the shooter. Research has shown that English players have already spent much less time in penalty shoot-outs than their opponents.

Players were therefore asked to take the time to breathe and prepare mentally before shooting.

The coach has a list where he tracks statistics on penalties that players take, how they do it on exercise and health. All to control which players will take responsibility.

If it's the one who went around this time, of course, it's impossible to say, but it ended up at least with joyful movements and no despair. 19659010] "England can win the World Cup, because they have Harry Kane", was the title of this text for a long time. This is not because the top scorer was very good in the eighth final, but because the captain scored his sixth goal in just three games in Russia.

These are incredible numbers, and when Sweden is in the quarterfinals, Croatia or Russia in the semifinals. "Three Lions" have a unique opportunity to play their first World Cup final since Wembley in 1966.

Up to the extra, his penalty score after 57 minutes seemed enough. England was en route to its first win in a league game since the 2006 World Cup.

Colombians had virtually nothing to offer in front of their passionate fans, but in overtime Mateus Uribe has suddenly slipped 30 yards. The shooting was incredible and Pickford picked up a masterful rescue throughout the crossbar

The problem for England was that at the next corner, Yerry Mina crushed all goals before and banned the fight for extra rounds [19659002] Dier missed his two big chances in the second extra block, it seemed to be written in the stars that this too would be an evening where the truth about England and penalties should be confirmed.

He did not do it. Maybe it was the beginning of a completely different story.

A story that takes them to Moscow next Sunday.