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4th July 2018
08:10am BST

In Ireland, anybody interested enough in soccer generally follows the Premier League. Every single one of England's players on Tuesday night plays for a Premier League team and that's one of the reasons we didn't want to see them miss a crucial penalty last night and then be scarred with it for the rest of their careers.
Raheem Sterling was undoubtedly England's liveliest player on the night. The Manchester City winger was a constant threat in that first half when England were on top and though he tired slightly in the second half, he kept plugging away and never once shirked the physical Colombia challenge.
His willingness to sacrifice himself for the good of the team deserves admiration and the way he ran himself into the ground shows just how far he's come from the player who was often classed as flaky in his younger days..
It's well known at this stage that certain sections of the England press hold a bizarre obsession with the youngster. The Sun have demonised him and even claimed he should have been dropped from the World Cup squad a few weeks ago due to some ink on his skin.
On the night of only England's third knockout victory in a World Cup since 1990, their first in a game that stretched beyond 90 minutes, The Daily Mail felt the time was right to focus on the negative parts of his performance.
"It was up to England's penalty heroes to make sure Sterling gets another chance," they wrote.https://twitter.com/BeardedGenius/status/1014266707769217025 https://twitter.com/mikeyd105/status/1014404004640681984 That's just a little bit weird to vilify Sterling when he ran himself into the ground for the England cause every minute he was on the pitch. https://twitter.com/JOE_co_uk/status/1014214060802486273
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