England beat Colombia in the Round of 16 of the World Cup and secured a quarterfinal berth where they are set to take on Sweden on Saturday.
The Three Lions much like some of the other teams had to sweat it out in order to acquire the win after the game trickled down to a penalty shoot-out. With history pitched against them, Gareth Southgate’s side managed to win their first ever shoot-out in the World Cup and that too in a rather calm fashion.
After Jordan Henderson’s shot was blocked by David Ospina the scene looked very familiar for the thousands of supporters in the stadium who had seen their beloved team bow out several times at a similar stage.
But then Colombia’s Mateus Uribe hit his shot on the crossbar which followed by a fine save from Jordan Pickford. And eventually, Eric Dier held his nerve and slotted home the last penalty that catapulted England to the quarterfinal.
After the game was done and dusted, many reports suggested that it was Jamie Vardy and not Eric Dier who was scheduled to take the final kick but the former had to pull out because of a groin injury.
And indeed footage from England’s celebrations revealed Vardy clutching his groin area which clearly indicated that something was wrong with the striker.
Now various English publications claim that Vardy has suffered a groin injury which clouds his participation during the quarterfinal against Sweden.
Sky Sports has revealed that the striker has been given an injection but that does not seem to be of much help right now.
As per the latest reports coming out of Russia, the England medical staff have decided to take it easy with Vardy’s injury and the striker will have a proper assessment before the tie.
While Sweden will certainly pose a serious threat to England but on paper, they are a beatable side as far as Gareth Southgate is concerned.
So we feel that England will not try and risk him if it is not absolutely necessary.
Vardy is not the first choice striker for Southgate and there are players like Marcus Rashford and Danny Welbeck who are more than capable of doing the job in the absence of the striker.
A groin injury takes a minimum of six weeks to properly heal so if the injury sustained by Jamie Vardy is serious then the World Cup could well and truly be over for the Leicester City striker.
Read: Here’s how Scotland is helping ‘this’ English star stay motivated both on and off the pitch.
Read: Here’s how Cristiano Ronaldo helped England win the penalty shoot-out vs Colombia.
Read: FIFA unveiled ‘this’ EPL player as a legend and the fans are losing their minds.
Read: Former Spanish World Cup winner shows his support for England after the Colombia victory and the fans are divided in opinion.
