Gareth Southgate’s brave young Lions did the unthinkable and won a penalty shootout at the FIFA World Cup. After three failures in previous tournaments England came up trumps against Colombia in the final round of 16 game on Tuesday to squeeze into the quarter finals.
Captain Harry Kane had given England the lead from the spot in the 57th minute and they appeared set for a place in the quarter finals as the clocked rolled over to 90 minutes. However, Colombian hero Mina scored his third header in three games in the third minute of stoppage time to guarantee 30 more minutes of football.
It then took the frame of the goal and a strong left hand from Jordan Pickford to set up England for the win. Eric Dier then held his nerve to score the fifth and final spot kick and send the English fans in the Spartak Stadium into rapture. England will play Sweden in Samara on Saturday.
Ashley Young was the first to test Ospina when he whipped in a free kick from the left which the Colombian shot stopper showed strong wrists to block to safety in the 5th minute.
England were on the front foot early on and Colombia were reduced to playing in the counter attack.
Kane headed unto the roof of the net from a Trippier cross from an acute angle. It was difficult chance for the England captain.
Except for the final third, England were very good in a testy first half that saw a number of yellow cards being shown by referee Mark Geiger.
Quintero with a shot from outside the box two minutes into first half stoppage was the first real save for Pickford as neither team managed to get on the score sheet in the first half.
After a rugby tackle from Carlos Sanchez that brought him to the floor, the England captain picked himself up and then waited two minutes for the Colombian protests to subside before he fired right down the middle to give his team a precious lead in the 57th minute.
Deli Alli and Maguire both saw headers from an acute angle go over the bar as England sought the safety of a second goal.
Colombia then had a clear opening after a giveaway from Walker in the 81st min but Cuadrado blasted over from 10 yards.
Falcao climbed all over Henderson but could not direct header on target from a left sided cross then struck a drive from 25 yards that went straight a Pickford.
In stoppage time, Uribe had an acrobatic effort from 35 yards that had Pickford scrambling to save with an equally acrobatic effort and the ball went behind for a corner kick.
Mina scored with his third consecutive header from a set piece in the World Cup to level the game at 1-1.
Expectedly Colombia had the momentum at the start of extra time but it was England that had the better chances to win the game before the dreaded penalties.
Substitute Danny Rose flashed an effort across the face of goal which was inches away from winning it for England. Dier then had a free header from a corner inside the box which went high.
Then came the penalty shootout.
Falcao went right down the middle to get his team off to a good start before his opposing captain Kane fired into the bottom right corner to level things at 1-1. Cuadrado thumped the ball to Pickford’s right before Rashford placed the ball in the same spot as his skipper.
Muriel calmly rolled the ball to the left of Pickford to make it 3-2 to Colombia before Henderson saw his spot kick brilliantly saved by Ospina who dived full stretch to his left to give his team the advantage.
Uribe should have consolidated the lead for Colombia but his well struck shot hit the crossbar. Trippier then went powerfully to Ospina’s right to level things for England at 3-3.
Bacca then saw Pickford save his shot with a strong left hand leaving the substitute Dier with a chance to be the hero on the night.
England finally won a penalty shootout when Dier became the fourth English man to go to Ospina’s right on the night.
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