Thursday 5 July 2018 12:03, UK
England's World Cup hero Jordan Pickford was handed a drinks bottle that had information about Colombia's penalty takers before the last-16 penalty shootout, according to Sky Sources.
Pickford made the crucial save as he kept out Carlos Bacca's spot-kick, allowing Eric Dier to step up and seal England's place in the World Cup quarter-finals against Sweden on Saturday.
The England 'keeper was aided by vital information that was written on a bottle that detailed where the Colombian players preferred to put their penalties.
Pickford used the information, and admitted in post-match interviews after the 4-3 penalty win that only Radamael Falcao had placed his shot differently to what he had expected.
The Everton goalkeeper forgot which direction Ferjani Sassi usually opts for, when he scored his penalty for Tunisia in the opening game, and sent Ashley Young to the bench to get a steer from England's goalkeeping coach, Martyn Margetson.
Pickford had expected his former Sunderland team-mate Wahbi Khazri to take that spot kick.
Meanwhile, England's quarter-final opponents Sweden are likely to be better acclimatised than England, going into their World Cup clash in Samara, according to Sky Sports News.
Sweden have selected a training base in Russia where temperatures are on average 10 degrees higher than at England's Repino headquarters.
Samara is about 1,200 miles south-east of Repino, and temperatures pitch-side for the afternoon game are forecast to be over 30 Celsius.
Sweden are based in Gelendzhik where temperatures have ranged in the last few weeks between 26-29 Celsius, while England have been training in Zelenogorsk, seven miles from the team hotel in Repino, where temperatures are currently 18 Celsius, and fell as low as 12 Celsius in the lead up to the Colombia game.
