England had their backs against the wall after coughing up a lead in Moscow. The Three Lions overcame their demons however to defeat Colombia, 4-3, in penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in regular time to book a place in the quarterfinals.
Eric Dier scored the winning penalty kick in the fifth round as he beat David Ospina to the bottom-left corner. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford stoned Carlos Bacca in the fourth round, while Mateus Uribe rattled the crossbar in the third.
Harry Kane’s penalty kick in the 57th minute broke the deadlock in Moscow after the Spurs forward was fouled by midfielder Carlos Sanchez. Sanchez was guilty after tackling Kane on a corner kick. It was Kane’s sixth goal of the tournament.
Colombia continued to fight though and answered in the final minute of second-half stoppage time. Yerry Mina’s header from a corner kick was deflected in off of Kieran Trippier to level the score.
In the end, England proved they belong in the next round and will face Sweden in Samara on Saturday.
Man of the Match
Pickford made some big saves when it counted for England but none bigger than his save in the shootout.
Moment of the Match
Colombia shot themselves in the foot twice, missing two of their five penalties. Uribe look destined to score but rattled the post, while Bacca was kept out.
Match to Forget
Juan Cuadrado was very quiet in the match, missing a key chance to score late in the second half.
Regarding England, I’m not sure what the future of this tournament holds for them (the Swedes tend to give them fits), but I think ’til now, the results have been extremely positive in exorcising some demons, and with the core of this team so young, could bode well in two years and four years respectively. Time will tell, but Kane looks like the talismanic captain they’ve been needing for awhile now.
I’m no Geiger fan, but he is getting an extremely unfair shake out there. Other than giving an early red, there isn’t much you can do once the mentality of a South American team turns and every whistle is met with absurd levels of protestation.
Colombian fans whining about the referee left and right…but the PK call was fair, and last I checked he somehow let you finish 120 minutes with 11 guys. Not his fault you couldn’t best England in a penalty shootout.
Geiger was great. He did not let misbehavior take over the game much less steal it from England.
match to forget: Mark Geiger. what a joke
Wholeheartedly agree. Can’t believe he didn’t card about 3 Colombians for their antics on the pk. If England didn’t win, they had a legit complaint about how lenient the ref was. As they won, they are right not to complain.
Engerland were rather awful today, kick and run, anti-football…firmly second worst team to make it to the 1/4 finals after the dreadful USSR…
i like the russia team. they’re fun to watch with exciting attacking players, an attractive possession and attacking style of play and few fouls. and they did surprise and knock out spain this time!
On their side of the bracket, they are better than Sweden or Russia. I was pulling for Colombia but they played cheap and physically and were lucky to finish with 11 players
Great day for England. So nice to see some vindication for Southgate when it comes to penalties. That’s a rotten burden to carry around for 20+ years.
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Still, need to find a way to make some more creative tweaks. They dominated the first 90, but not enough to stay static. England have given every team they play a pretty clear blueprint of their personnel, formation, tactics, and substitutions. Might be time to figure out a wrinkle.