Jordan Pickford was England's penalty shoot-out hero once again as Gareth Southgate's men eventually overcame Switzerland to bring an exciting end to a tepid third-place play-off in the Nations League.
Three days on from losing their semi-final to Holland due to two defensive gifts and a narrow offside call, the Three Lions returned to a far quieter Estadio D Afonso Henriques for Sunday's battle for bronze.
Callum Wilson thought he had grabbed a late winner ruled until the video assistant referee intervened in Guimaraes, where England dominated throughout only for the match to end 0-0 after 120 minutes.
The match went to spot-kicks and Pickford again come into his own in the shootout, denying Josip Drmic in sudden death after scoring his own spot-kick as the Three Lions won 6-5 on penalties.
It was a positive note at the end at the end of a forgettable match that at least brings the team bronze medals and penalty confidence ahead of Euro 2020.
England should have had the match wrapped up long before the shootout, though, with the Swiss goal frame rattled four times across the 120 minutes.
Southgate's men even thought they had snatched an 84th-minute winner through Wilson, only for VAR to spot his foul on Manuel Akanji.
It meant an extra 30 minutes of the match no one wanted and eventually penalties, with Pickford emulating his last-16 heroics against Colombia at last year's World Cup as England won another shootout.
✅ Harry Maguire
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) June 9, 2019
✅ Ross Barkley (🍟)
✅ Jadon Sancho
✅ Raheem Sterling
✅ Jordan Pickford (yes, really!)
✅ Eric Dier
🦁 Pickford saves! 5-6 on penalties - England finish third in the Nations League
🥉🥉🥉🥉🥉🥉 #SUIENG #ENGSWI #NationsLeague #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/chgpmxsOWg
Pickford's winning spot-kick
Jordan Pickford can take a penalty 🔥🧤
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) June 9, 2019
👇 #SUIENG #ENGSWI #NationsLeague #ThreeLionspic.twitter.com/Xs2fUmZIC4
Opta facts
- England finished third in a major international tournament for the first time since EURO 1968.
- Switzerland have won just one of their last 23 matches against England in all competitions (W1 D6 L16).
- England have never lost against Switzerland at a neutral venue, winning two and drawing two of their four matches.
- England scored six penalties in a single shootout at a competitive international tournament for the first time in their history.
- England have won consecutive penalty shootouts at a competitive international tournament for the first time – they had lost five in a row prior to this.
- Jordan Pickford became the first-ever goalkeeper to take (and score) a penalty for England in a competitive penalty shootout.
- England’s Trent Alexander-Arnold created seven goalscoring chances versus Switzerland; the last player to create more for the Three Lions in a match was James Milner versus San Marino in October 2014 (9).
- Trent Alexander-Arnold attempted 18 crosses in this match, the most by an England player in a single game since David Beckham (19) versus Andorra in June 2009.
- Harry Kane has failed to score in nine of his last 12 appearances for England; Kane has failed to score in his last two games, after scoring in three in a row between November 2018 and March 2019.
