The Three Lions proceeded to the quarterfinals after beating Colombia 4-3 on a do or die penalty shoot out in Moscow after an extra time stalemate draw. Photo: England Twitter.
England captain Harry Kane fired the Queen’s juvenile side on the 57th minute from a penalty after he was brought down in the 18 yard box by Carlos Sanchez at a corner.
The South American side without their injured forward James Rodriguez appeared on the threshold to advance to their second consecutive World Cup quarter-final but the British side denied them the opportunity.
England looked to be leading into the quarterfinals in regulation time until the Barcelona defender Yerry Mina equalised with a 93rd-minute towering header to give the Colombian side aspirations into the last eight.
It was a merit to both teams in a taut 30 minutes extra time that found none of them scoring and that led to a nail biting penalty shootout.
The Colombian goalkeeper dived to his left to halt Jordan Henderson’s third penalty for the Englishmen and Manuel Uribe hit the cross-bar before intrepid and jolly Jordan Pickford saved it from Carlos Bacca. Eric Dier netted home the deciding penalty kick as Gareth Southgate lads reached the quarterfinals ,their only win on penalties at World Cup for the first time after they suffered defeats in 1990,1998 and 2006.This was the England’s first victory ever World Cup penalty shoot-out.
Exactly 24 hours on… 🙌#threelions pic.twitter.com/aPJVS2P9H5
— England (@England) July 4, 2018
Gareth Southgate’s side will face Sweden in the last eight encounters in Samara on Saturday aspiring to reach the semi-finals for the third time in this paramount tournament.
“We played so well in the 90 minutes, we showed resilience to come back from huge disappointment and kept calm,” Southgate told ITV.
Shootouts are tough. We had talked long and hard about owning the process of a shootout. They kept calm. The players have taken it all on board; it’s a special moment for us. We looked at technique, how we needed to be as a team, the goalkeeper’s role.
A special moment but now I’m thinking about Sweden.
Southgate, who missed a penalty kick when England lost to Germany in the Euro ’96 semi-finals at Wembley was relieved that the Three Lions have more days to stay in Russia.
This was special but I want us to go on. Sweden is another team we have a poor record against. We have underestimated them for years. They have created their own story and made history. I don’t want to go home yet.
It's 1️⃣2️⃣ years since the #ThreeLions last faced Sweden in the #WorldCup, when Joe Cole did this… #TBT pic.twitter.com/eGJ7uKJx9R
— England (@England) July 5, 2018