What Argentina’s water bottle scouting says about the future of sports data and prediction markets

A goalkeeper taping cheat sheets to his water bottle sounds like something from a school exam, not a World Cup semi-final. But that’s exactly what England’s Jordan Pickford has been doing for years, and now Argentina’s players have apparently caught on.

Lip readers claim Argentine players were spotted discussing notes found on Pickford’s water bottle, notes that detail how the English keeper sequences his penalty saves. Pickford has been doing this since at least the 2018 World Cup, when England beat Colombia in a penalty shootout during the round of 16.

The water bottle playbook

Pickford annotates his water bottle with tendencies of opposing penalty takers, which direction they favor, their patterns under pressure, how they sequence shots across a shootout.

The method made headlines again during Euro 2024, when England beat Switzerland in a quarterfinal penalty shootout. Pickford’s bottle reportedly featured data on players like Manuel Akanji. The approach mirrors a famous precedent from Germany’s Jens Lehmann, who used a similar note-based system during the 2006 World Cup.

Pickford has publicly indicated England’s readiness for another shootout ahead of a potential 2026 World Cup semi-final against Argentina.

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