Pickford’s water bottle penalty cheat sheet revealed as he’s England hero

JORDAN PICKFORD'S penalty heroics were aided by a shoot-out cheat sheet on his water bottle.

England's No1 saved from Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji as the Three Lions sealed a 5-3 win on penalties after drawing 1-1 in 120 minutes.

Pickford went the right way for two of the four spot kicks he faced, narrowly failing to keep out ex-Stoke and Liverpool man Xherdan Shaqiri.

And he followed what was written on his bottle for both of those penalties - "dive left".

For Fabian Schar's kick, he faked to dive left and then went right, the opposite to the instruction on his bottle.

Unfortunately, Newcastle man Schar actually did what Pickford had planned for and coolly slotted home.

Burnley man Zeki Amdouni was the only Swiss player to opt for a different penalty to what England had planned for, sending his down the middle as Pickford dived left.

But one save was all it took for Pickford as Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold all converted with unwavering assurance.

It adds to Pickford's already impressive penalty record with England.

He saved one in the shoot-out against Colombia at the 2018 World Cup, before saving and scoring against Switzerland the following year.

He even saved two against Italy in the Euros final in 2021, only for England to end up losing.

And he spoke about that pedigree in penalty shoot-outs ahead of the Switzerland game.

He said: "History of winning major tournaments shows that you've got to go into extra time, maybe win a penalty shoot-out.

"It was the Nations League for third place and the bronze medal but you've got to learn from them experiences and take them experiences into major tournaments.

"It was a good feeling back then to get them experiences under our belt."

Asked if he would take another against Switzerland if required, he added: "I will step up. I'm not the manager but I will practise and I will be prepared.

"We know they are a very good side, they've just knocked out the reigning champions [Italy] and are playing some very good football so they aren't going to be a team we're taking lightly.

"We're going to have to prepare fully for it and that is what we will be ready for."