Sportskeeda Football 2018 Awards: 5 most memorable moments of the year

#3 England win a penalty shoot-out

Coming into the 2018 World Cup, few people fancied England to get very far. Boss Gareth Southgate had been parachuted in to replace Sam Allardyce in late 2016 and although the Three Lions qualified with ease, Southgate’s young and inexperienced squad just didn’t appear to be equipped to end all the years of hurt that England fans had suffered.

Those years of hurt didn’t quite come to an end – England were defeated by Croatia in the semi-finals of the tournament – but one huge ghost was laid to rest in the round of 16, as Southgate’s side defeated Colombia in a penalty shoot-out. The shoot-out win was England’s first in the World Cup, and their first shoot-out win overall since Euro 1996 – and in the time between, they’d lost 5 in a row.

With Southgate – the man who missed a crucial spot-kick against Germany in the Euro '96 semi-final – at the helm though, things always felt different. England’s players seemed more prepared and more relaxed, and even when Jordan Henderson missed England’s third kick – handing the initiative to Colombia – it didn’t feel like doom was nigh.

Sure enough, Mateus Uribe hit the bar with Colombia’s next penalty, Kieran Trippier scored for England, and then Jordan Pickford made a miraculous save to keep out Carlos Bacca’s kick, leaving Eric Dier with a chance to carve out a piece of history.

The Tottenham midfielder duly fired past David Ospina, and England’s curse was finally lifted after 12 long years. The country went into rapture and while the Three Lions couldn’t quite bring football home by winning the tournament, they’d provided 2018 with one of its most memorable moments.