Colombian Official Caught Trying To Shoulder Sterling As He Left Pitch

PA

After a goalless first half, the game between England and Colombia has still seen its fair share of close calls and hair-raising moments.

One such moment was when one of Colombia’s team staff shoulder-barged Raheem Sterling as he jogged off the pitch.

Watch it here:

It’s a strange moment – the expression on Sterling’s face says it all – especially as the official then points to the England striker, as if it was his fault.

Do they not realise they’re on camera when they try and pull little tricks like this?

Sterling also had an interesting moment earlier in the game, as Colombian player, Yerry Mina, seemed to get so far on his back it looked like Sterling was giving him a piggy-back.

PA

However, the incidents involving Sterling didn’t quite get the same reaction as Jordan Henderson being brought down in the box from a wayward headbutt.

As the players lined awaiting the incoming free-kick, Henderson – for some reason – seemed to be on the wrong end of a fairly vicious headbutt.

After an uproar from the players, the referee took the incident to VAR, and gave Barrios a yellow card.

It’s been a scrappy game to say the least and while there were no goals in the first half, there were plenty of close calls.

However, the second half saw the on-pitch scrapping come to a head, as England were awarded a penalty after Carlos Sanchez brought down Harry Kane during a corner.

After even more argy-bargy, Kane eventually took the penalty, and nestled it firmly in the back of the net.

The drama didn’t end there though as Colombia managed to equalise during stoppage time of the second half, meaning the game went to extra time.

While it might seem like an age ago, the England team’s journey at the tournament began just two weeks and four games ago, when they faced Tunisia in the first game of Group G.

England pulled through with a 2-1 victory thanks to two goals from captain Kane.

After the almost perfect start to their campaign, England faced Panama full of confidence, which was clearly on display during their 6-1 thrashing. Goals came from John Stones, Jesse Lingard and a hat-trick from Kane.

Next up in the group stages was Belgium, where things didn’t quite go as well. However, both teams knew they were going through to the knockout stages before setting foot on the pitch and a loss was questionably better for England, given who they’ll go on to face.

2018 has thrown up some shock results this far, with potentially plenty still to come.

Surely it’s coming home now…

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Charlie Cocksedge

Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.