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National newspaper front pages celebrate England’s World Cup win against Colombia on penalties

By Sam Forsdick

Today’s front pages celebrate the England team’s victory against Colombia in the World Cup.

It marked the first time England has won on penalties in the competition and only the second time they have won a shootout in a major tournament.

The Sun led with the headline “Hand of Jord”, with a picture of Jordan Pickford’s one-handed save from Carlos Bacca’s penalty.

The Sun also included an apology for the previous days front page, which had upset the Colombian ambassador to the UK over its allusion to the country’s cocaine trafficking problem.

The apology reads: “The front page of yesterday’s Sun may have given the impression that Colombia is well known for its cocaine trade.

“This was unfair on the Colombian people, who are far more embarrassed by the way their cheating, fouling, play-acting, mean spirited national football team played last night.

“We are happy to set the record straight.”

The Daily Mirror led with “At last! England win on penalties” with the strapline “Bring on Sweden”.

England will now face Sweden on Saturday at 3pm in their quarter-final match.

The Metro ran with the headline “Never in doubt!” with a picture of the team celebrating Eric Dier’s winning spot kick and a cut out of Harry Kane, who is now top scorer in the tournament with six goals.

The Daily Star was another paper to dedicate the whole of their front page to the World Cup win, with the headline “Spot on!” and five pages of coverage.

The i paper dubbed the victorious England squad “the history boys” but led with a story on the divisions in cabinet over Brexit.

The Times, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express led with the news of a neonatal nurse who has been arrested on the suspicion of murdering eight babies and attempting to kill a further six whilst working at the Countess of Chester Hospital.

The Guardian featured a picture of the England team’s celebrations but opted to cover the NHS’s decision to introduce DNA testing to treat diseases in its main story.

The Daily Telegraph led with “’Nick’ charged over false VIP sex claims”, the news that a man known only as Nick has been charged after allegedly making lying about a paedophile ring in Westminster.

The Financial Times was the only national newspaper not to feature an image of the England team, instead running “US investigations into Glencoe deals in Africa and South America” as its lead.

ITV’s coverage of the game hit a one minute peak of 24.4m and averaged 16.5m viewers, a 69% share of total viewing figures.

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