Revealed: Twitter’s most talked-about England v Colombia players – and the true scale of “it’s coming home” fever

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The 2018 World Cup has brought a lot of excitement during its three-week spell so far with some shocks and goal-happy matches.

But on Tuesday night England as a nation hit its peak level to date with the Three Lions beating Colombia 4-3 on penalties – their first ever at a World Cup – to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2006.

In the summer of 2006, Twitter was in its infancy but as England watched the round-of-16 tie against Colombia with bated breath, a peak of 127,000 Tweets were sent per minute by the moment Eric Dier’s penalty beat David Ospina to send the Three Lions through.

A further half-a-million Tweets mentioning ‘it’s coming home’ – a reference to the Skinner and Baddiel 1996 anthem ‘Three Lions’ and a phrase, or meme, that has become the mantra for England’s supportership during the 2018 World Cup campaign – were sent in the past 24 hours, contributing over a third of the total 1.4 million mentions since the tournament began on June 14.

However, the players involved in the match were the talk of the country as 120 minutes could not separate England Colombia.

Here are the five most talked-about players on a historic night for England which had fans believing it’s coming home.

1. Harry Kane

England’s captain was once again a key man to help the Three Lions into the quarter-finals of the World Cup, scoring from the spot both in normal time and in the penalty shootout.

Going into the match, Harry Kane had scored in each of his two previous appearances at the World Cup and was the tournament’s top-scorer with five goals.

And he added to that tally in the second-half, scoring from a penalty having been fouled by Carlos Sanchez, which had looked to have given England the win.

But following Colombia’s equaliser and a goalless extra-time, Kane was the first to step up for England in the shootout and duly converted his effort to get off to the best start.

2. Yerry Mina

With just a few minutes remaining of injury time, England were looking towards Saturday’s quarter-final tie against Sweden, leading 1-0.

But Yerry Mina, who had had an excellent game throughout dealing well with England’s set pieces and Raheem Sterling, rose highest from a corner to draw Colombia level.

The Barcelona defender’s goal was his third in the tournament, in three games, all of which had come from headers and breathed life into Colombia’s attack for extra-time.

3. James Rodriguez

Before the game had even begun, Twitter was filled with buzz when James Rodriguez had been left out of Colombia’s starting XI having failed to shake off an injury picked up in their win over Senegal.

But minutes later it got worse for the Colombia as it had come to light the Bayern Munich midfielder was not even on the bench for the match.

Taking his seat in the stands, the television cameras kept their eye on James, who showed excitement when Colombia equalised and utter despair as England went through on penalties.

4. David Ospina

David Ospina had a quiet night on the pitch in the opening 120 minutes, but that did not stop him being one of the most talked about players.

In regulation time, he was beaten by Kane’s penalty which gave England the lead but dealt rather well with everything else thrown at him.

When it came to the penalty shootout, the Arsenal goalkeeper was beaten by Kane again, as well as Marcus Rashford before giving Colombia the advantage in saving well from Jordan Henderson.

But both Trippier and Dier were to convert their efforts, sending Ospina out.

5. Eric Dier

When Eric Dier came on with 81 minutes played, England manager Gareth Southgate would not have expected him to be taking a penalty to decide the Three Lions’ tournament.

In his time on the pitch, Dier was not at his best, as the game went past him with Colombia in the ascendancy following their equaliser.

The Spurs man also had a good chance to win the game inside extra-time but his free header from a corner was poor.

But, after Jordan Pickford had saved Carlos Bacca to put England on the brink in the shootout, Dier stepped up and coolly put his penalty past Ospina to send Three Lions fans into raptures and earn a first major tournament knock-out win since 2006.

Data provided by Twitter

The post Revealed: Twitter’s most talked-about England v Colombia players – and the true scale of “it’s coming home” fever appeared first on Squawka News.



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