Dier Takes England to the Round of Eight

Another game was decided by a shootout on the knockout stage. England got by Colombia after a late equalizer by the South American side.

First Half

England looked calmed as the first minutes of the game went by. Colombia on the other hand, started off with quick pace. They managed to get nice runs off the touchlines, but they were stopped easily by England. The clock kept ticking and it was now evident that tactical game was a priority. Both teams stood firm on the field, sticking to their respective game styles.

Colombia was stuck on their defensive zone for a good part of the first half as the Englishmen mounted the pressure. Nonetheless, they were not able to score, as their plays had no finish or were blocked by the defense. Colombia went up field sporadically using trough balls, they had not much success as England recovered lose balls fairly quickly. While there was a lot of ball movement, there was not much accurate shooting. Both teams combined managed to shoot only twice at goal.

Both squads headed to the dressing room still tied at zero.

Second Half

The Cafetalero squad went on the attack at the start of the second half. Their offense was unsuccessful as England surrounded the ball quickly. Things changed in favor of the European team just when Colombia started to pick up the pace.

A penalty kick was awarded by referee Mark Geiger when an English player fell inside the box during a corner kick. It was certainly a controversial call, nonetheless, Harry Kane was ready to kick from the penalty spot.

Kane converted for his 6th goal of the tournament at the 57th minute. England was up by one.

Draws the penalty. Buries the PK. Harry Kane gives #ENG a 1-0 lead over #COL.#WorldCup #TheAOSNWC pic.twitter.com/EaBBz0Zgon

— The AOSN FC (@TheAOSNFC) July 3, 2018

The game got rough from that point on. Referee Geiger gradually lost control of the game as players fought and argued constantly. Just as Geiger lost control of the game, Colombia lost all patience.

The South American XI adopted an All Or Nothing mentality as the 60th minute mark arrived. They went deeper into England’s offensive zone aided by long balls. Not only was this not paying off for Colombia as players like Radamel Falcao and Juan Cuadrado couldn’t find the net, but it also had a big drawback…

Desperation set in for Colombia. That same desperation caused them to give away the ball in their defensive zone. This gave England very dangerous offensive opportunities. England could not convert and, luckily for Colombia, the game was still tied.

Los Cafetaleros went for one final push during aggregate, as time expired off the clock, the Colombians struck gold.

Yerry Mina equalized the scoreboard on a dramatic finish to regulation time. The game was tied at the 93rd minute.

Yerry Mina rose above to score for #COL in the closing minutes. #Clutch #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/mmDB6o02bc

— The AOSN FC (@TheAOSNFC) July 3, 2018

The score was again tied after 90 minutes, the game was headed to overtime.

Overtime

Action started on a relatively fast pace during overtime. Offense went back and forth between the two teams, nonetheless, none had luck at scoring. Colombia then found their way into the English box, they were dangerous by air.

England looked tired and stunned by Colombia’s remaining stamina. The South American XI was still able to run up the touchlines putting pressure on England’s defense. Roles were inverted for the second half of overtime as it was now Colombia who was in a hurry offensively.

The game had no winner, everything was going to be decided from the penalty spot.

The Shootout

Colombia won the coin toss thus, they decided to kick first.

The first two sets of kicks were marvelous. Falcao and Cuadrado scored for Colombia and so did Kane and Marcus Rashford for England. The shootout was tied at two. Things changed as Luis Muriel was able to convert on the third kick and Jordan Henderson was denied by David Ospina. Advantage Colombia.

Mateus Uribe missed his penalty kick and gave a chance to Kieran Trippier to even out the score.

Carlos Bacca failed to covert when ti mattered the most and Eric Dier scored the final goal for England, finishing a 4-3 shootout victory.

With all of #ENG in suspense, Eric Dier sends The Three Lions to the quarterfinals. #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/cwtNaqDBmX

— The AOSN FC (@TheAOSNFC) July 3, 2018

England will face Sweden this next Saturday in the round of eight.