Eric Dier's amazing confession about penalty that beat Colombia at World Cup 2018 and lifted England shootout curse
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England's penalty shoot-out hero Eric Dier revealed he had no idea that he was going to be one of the takers.
Dier scored from the vital fifth spot-kick to give the Three Lions their first ever World Cup shoot-out win, a first tournament knockout victory for 12 years and set up a quarter-final tie against Sweden on Saturday.
But the Tottenham star, who only came on as an 81st-minute sub, said he was unaware he was down to take one at all in the event of a shoot-out. He was pressed into action because fellow sub Jamie Vardy, who was meant to go fifth, suffered a groin injury late in extra time.
Asked if he knew he was down on the list before the game, he admitted: “No, I had no idea. We were hoping it didn't go to penalties!
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“I didn't know the order until the manager came. The manager didn't tell us the order before the game. Obviously, with substitutions, the order can change, so after extra-time he just told me that I was number five.
“It's a strange one. Obviously you don't do it very often so it's a bit weird, but it was okay.
“At the time, I don't really know what I was thinking about [walking up to take the penalty], to be honest. While you're waiting to take it it's nerve-wracking but, once I walked up, when I was going to take it, I was quite calm to be honest.
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“I was very nervous while standing waiting but once I walked up there, I was alright. I knew where I was going to put it.”
Dier described the mood in the jubilant England dressing-room after the win as “surreal” but said the players quickly realised they must switch their focus to Sweden.
“The feeling of winning on penalties is kind of surreal,” said Dier. “It takes over you. It's fantastic.
“I wasn't actually there [in the dressing room] when everyone got back in. I missed it because I was doing interviews.
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“It might be difficult, but that's really the most important thing – to take one game at a time, to really focus now on the Sweden game, like we did for Colombia.
“That's the key in football. I've said it loads of times but in football, you never know what's going to happen and I think this was the perfect example of that.
“You have to be prepared for everything and you've just got to enjoy every moment and be in that moment. If you think too far ahead you lose your focus on the present - and the present is the most important thing.”