JORDAN Pickford’s water bottle may have helped England break their World Cup penalty jinx.
TV footage emerged last night appearing to show it contained notes on the neck which may have indicated which way each Colombian was planning to place their spot-kicks, The Sun reports.
Pickford, 24, is shown hiding the bottle under a towel ahead of the shootout.
And it is unclear whether he used this drinks container during the game or if it was switched prior to penalties.
Quarterfinal
Pickford's water bottle notes
0:19Pickford witnessed a similar ruse last summer during the European Under-21s semi-final defeat to Germany when rival goalkeeper Julian Pollersbeck pulled a “cheat sheet” from his sock.
Ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster famously used an iPad at Wembley to help him to save two Tottenham penalties during the 2009 Carling Cup victory.
National hero.Source: AFPNotes on a water bottle is a tip used by Maddie Hinch, the goalkeeper of the victorious Olympic womens hockey team at Rio 2016.
She taped a note to her water bottle as she saved four Dutch penalties as Team GB won gold 2-0 in the shootout, after a 3-3 draw in normal time.
Southgate is understood to have chatted with Danny Kerry, Team GB’s hockey coach, and swapped notes and thoughts on various techniques and details.
ENG comms go nuts after a win
0:31Pickford revealed after the round of 16 victory he had done “my research on them with the staff” and admitted Colombian captain Falcao was the “only one that really didn’t go the way we thought”.
“I did a bit of research and we knew Bacca was maybe a weak link on the penalties because we had watched previous ones,” he said.
The Everton keeper had even identified Carlos Bacca — whose spot-kick he saved — as the weak link in their line-up.
He said: “I trusted my instinct and went that way with strong hands — I’m happy.
The water bottle said top left.Source: Reuters“We looked at his [Bacca] penalties with the penalty grid and they are all over the shop really.
“One is top left, one is top right, but I just thought No . 4 is a pressure penalty.
“Then with the fifth penalty he’s got to score to stay in it. I thought ‘I’m going right here’ and bang!”
England goalkeeping coach Margetson is a former Wales international keeper, and was appointed by Southgate’s predecessor Sam Allardyce.
Margetson, 46, had been part of Wales manager Chris Coleman’s backroom staff at the 2016 European Championships.
He played one game for Wales, a friendly against Canada in 2005.
Margetson was released from Everton’s backroom staff when Allardyce left at the end of last season.
Margetson, 46, had been part of Wales manager Chris Coleman’s backroom staff at the 2016 European Championships.
He played one game for Wales, a friendly against Canada in 2005.
Margetson was released from Everton’s backroom staff when Allardyce left at the end of last season.
— This story originally appeared on thesun.co.uk