Five conclusions after England send Colombia home on penalties | OneFootball

England booked their quarter-final date with Sweden by overcoming Colombia in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night.

After 120 minutes of football couldn’t separate the two sides, it came down to a penalty shoot-out and remarkably, England made it through.

Here are five things we took away from a mad night in Moscow …

England won a penalty shoot-out!

Okay, it’s not a conclusion as such, but it’s still hard to believe this match was decided by a penalty shoot-out, and England actually won.

Euro ’96 (against Spain) was the last time England came out on top in a penalty shoot-out at a major tournament, and this is the first time they’ve ever done so at a World Cup.

So does this mean the Three Lions have finally put 52 years of hurt behind them? Maybe not, but it has to be considered a step in the right direction mentality-wise.

And after his very own penalty heartache at that ’96 tournament, how sweet it must have been for Gareth Southgate to see his team prevail on this occasion.

Props to Jordan Pickford for a truly world class save to deny Carlos Bacca, by the way.

Wílmar Barrios should have been sent off

It feels like it happened about four years ago now, but after he clearly aimed a head-butt at Jordan Henderson in the dying stages of the first half, Colombian defender Wílmar Barrios should have walked.

American referee Mark Geiger, who is a school mathematics teacher by trade, took a moment to sort out the ensuing melee before dipping into his pocket and flashing a yellow card.

But why?

“A player is guilty of violent conduct if he uses excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball.”

That’s from FIFA’s official laws of the game, and if what Barrios did isn’t violent conduct, then what is it?

It may not have been the most forceful head-butt the world has ever seen, and Henderson definitely overreacted by dropping to the floor clutching his face, but neither of those things should be a factor in the referee’s decision making.

One of the best things about the implementation of VAR at this tournament is that it appears to have given referees more courage in their conviction but we’re afraid to say that, on this occasion, Geiger bottled it.

Then again, John Stones can perhaps consider himself quite fortunate to have escaped punishment for catching Falcao on the head with his boot in the second half.

Swings and roundabouts.

England need to improve in attacking areas

This was a decent performance from England, but not a great one.

For the most part, Colombia allowed their opponents to dominate possession but England created little by way of chances, and finished the 120 minutes with just two attempts on target.

In the quarter-final, they will come up against a stubborn Swedish rearguard which has shipped just two goals at the tournament so far (both against Germany) and England’s attacking players need to do a bit more.

Harry Kane is a brilliant finisher but he contributes little else to the build-up play, while Raheem Sterling is a risk-taker but one who often takes unnecessary risks and ends up losing the ball in the process.

Jesse Lingard has impressed greatly this summer but his end product sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, and though we can forgive him for perhaps not being 100% fit, Dele Alli was again borderline anonymous in this game.

The team which started this match is undoubtedly England’s best XI (with the only real question mark being Ashley Young’s deployment at left-back) but there’s a great deal of room for improvement, and they are going to have to unlock some of it if they’re to get past Sweden and go deeper into this tournament.

They played with fire by failing to kill this game off at 1-0 and next time, they might get burnt.

Southgate’s substitutions were wrong

For all of his impressiveness when it comes to coaching and media engagement, England’s manager perhaps still has a lot to learn when it comes to game management and he very nearly got found out by his substitutions in this game.

Alli was clearly struggling as the game wore on, but the decision to put Eric Dier on rather than Ruben Loftus-Cheek meant England seemed to take a step backwards and allowed Colombia more domination of the ball than they’d had until that point.

Jamie Vardy’s introduction at the expense of Sterling in the 88th minute was also a bit of a head-scratcher. Vardy and Sterling are not the same player and Southgate’s reluctance to play with two out-and-out strikers meant Kane dropped into a much deeper position which wasn’t suited to his talents whatsoever.

Danny Rose for Young was ostensibly a sound idea and almost produced the game’s winning goal in extra-time, while Marcus Rashford for the injured Kyle Walker was a positive bit of improvisation.

England ultimately came through the night unscathed, but with four days to go until their next game, Southgate has a bit of thinking to do.

You make your own luck in this game

Even the most partisan of England supporters must have felt a twinge of sorrow on Colombia’s behalf in the immediate aftermath of this crazy night in Moscow.

José Pékerman’s side did brilliantly well to get themselves back into the game in the dying minutes and they will leave Russia with their heads held high. Davinson Sánchez and Yerry Mina were superb at the heart of the defence, Radamel Falcao lead his country by example and Juan Fernando Quintero might have made a few top European clubs sit up and take notice after his performances this summer.

But after coming within a whisker of elimination, it is England who march on to the quarter-final, and they must use this near-death experience as their motivation for what will be another huge game on Saturday.

Sweden are a solid, resilient side, but England have every right to believe they can be conquered. There is a lot of work to do, however, and if Southgate and his players don’t learn from the mistakes made tonight, they will likely be sent packing.

Is football coming home? It’s on its way to the airport, but there’s a long journey ahead of it yet.