England Beat Colombia On Penalties To Enter Quarter Finals

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England had lost 6 major tournaments in last 22 years (1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2012) in penalty shootout but not this time around. The Three Lions have beaten Colombia 4-3 in the penalties in the Round of 16 match. England will now face Sweden in the quarterfinals.

Colombia’s James Rodriguez was not available for the match after failing to recover from an injury from the last match which was a huge setback for the team. The first half went goal less. England’s Harry Kane dispatched the penalty straight in the middle as Colombian goalkeeper Ospina dived towards the right. England got their first goal at the 58th minute. Kane’s goal was his 6th in the tournament and pushed him to the top of the race for the Golden Boot.

Frustration was mounting on the Colombians and finally in the injury time (90’+4′) Yerry Mina scored off a header and equalled it for his team. This was his third goal of this tournament. With scores levelled 1-1 the match went into extra-time and then the winner was to be decided through penalties.

Radamel Falco, Juan Cuadrado, Luis Muriel scored penalties for Colombia while Mateus Uribe and Carlos Bacca couldn’t. Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Kieran Trippler and Eric Dier scored 4 winning penalties for England.

England have now advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006. They will now face Sweden to book a place in the Semifinals.

The Quarterfinals are as follows: 

Uruguay Vs France

Brazil Vs Belgium

Sweden Vs England

Russia Vs Croatia