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Of course, he went to penalties. It always goes to penalties.
And of course everyone was expecting England to lose. Because England always loses when it comes to penalties.
It has become a theme. Or a curse. 1990. 1996. 1998. 2004. 2006. 2012. Six major tournaments in 22 years (including the European Championship), and England, brimming with great hopes and big names, are coming out of the way. the cruelest possible.
But it's a new England, they say. A team of young players with smiles on their faces and a spring in their step and the belief that it does not always have to be like that has always been.
And this England does not lose penalties. At least he did not have Tuesday night, surviving a tough match and Colombia, 4-3, in a shootout after the teams played a 1-1 draw.
"There has been a lot about this young team," said Englishman Harry Kane. "We have grown a lot on this pitch tonight."
Midfielder Eric Dier made the final blow by placing his attempt in the lower left corner under goalkeeper David Ospina, after Colombia failed to convert his last two attempts. England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford led the way by defeating Carlos Bacca's fifth attempt for Colombia with a dive to his right.
Kane, Marcus Rashford and Kieran Trippier also converted to England in the shootout, sparing Jordan Henderson from a life of ignominy after his penalty kick, the third of the day. 39, England, was saved by Ospina.
"It was a night, I knew we were going to go over the line," said England manager Gareth Southgate.
The result came so fast – a failure, then a mark – and was in many ways so unexpected given the history of England that its players did not seem to know what to do. Dier took off on his right, eventually falling under a pile of teammates. Trippier seemed caught between the two, jumping up next to the dogpile while the English reserves passed him to throw on their teammates.
"It was nice to get rid of it," Kane said. "It's a huge relief to take in advance."
They will gather for the rest when they are ready. An unlikely date with Sweden waits in the quarterfinals Saturday in Samara.
But even in a tournament where everything had gone well for England, the team did not reach the last eight without flirting with the disaster. England won (most of the time) and scored goals (often), and as he was riding in Moscow on Tuesday, even the road to the final stages of the World Cup was just opening in front of them.
But Colombia arrived with little interest in nurturing the growing narrative of the can-England-win-this-thing. And even after Kane seemed to put England in cruise control by converting a penalty in the 57th minute, the Colombians fought – a little too much for the taste of the English at times – for their Cup life. World until the end.
Kane's goal – his sixth here – had given England a 1-0 lead and pushed him to the top of the race for the Golden Shoe as the best scorer of the World Cup. But when Yerry Mina climbed above Harry Maguire to score the equalizing goal after three minutes of play at the end of the settlement, the pro-Colombian crowd at Spartak Stadium screamed in desperation and returned to the match . could blow everything – again – hung in the air.
It was England's first win in the playoff round at a major tournament since 2006, when he beat Ecuador at the World Cup before falling in Portugal on penalties. The outings have since seemed to alternate between scary chess (a loss for tiny Iceland to the 2016 European Championship) and total humiliation (an exit in the 2014 World Cup group stage, and a 4-1 defeat against Germany in South Africa before that). Before and after, were these half-dozen shots on goal and half-dozen defeats English.
This World Cup, however, was a complete reversal of mood and results. England, which had long withered under the critical gaze of its country's media, has been showing good humor and preaching that this time – ultimately – would be different.
The players gave pre-tournament interviews with pleasure, then beat Tunisia in their opening match and pummeled Panama as a follow-up. Even a defeat against Belgium in the last group match had a positive effect: the group's second place puts England in the second half of the series. If the English pass Sweden, they will face the survivor of the match Russia-Croatia.
This means that even the price for England's win against Colombia is positive: it will play against Sweden, not against France or Brazil or even Uruguay or Belgium, quarterfinals. The winner receives the survivor Russia-Croatia.
However, this path will only raise expectations in the stratosphere. In Southgate 's press conference before the match against Colombia, the second question that was asked was this: with so many good teams on the field, do not you have a great chance of winning the game. to reach the final?
Southgate has stayed away from the Colombian billboard with some cliches, but he knows exactly what is expected – and what can go wrong. He missed the last penalty shootout penalty that saw England lose the 1996 Euro at home and then saw his country come out of a World Cup by the same fate two years later.
He talked Monday about how he appreciated the way his team was playing, the freedom and confidence that he had demonstrated up to here, and he said he hoped he that it would continue. "It should not change now that we are in the knockout phase," he said. "If anything, we should feel freer."
They seemed against Colombia, even as the game became chippy and referee Mark Geiger of the United States started using his yellow card.
But Southgate also knew that more than a decade had passed since England 's last victory at a big event, and so it was sure to savor this one. – both for himself, but also because he thought England could paint a better future than its recent self-flagellating past.
"These are the games you want to participate in," he says about knockouts, his voice betraying just a micron of emotion. "You want to be involved in games that matter."
This can only improve in Russia if English players continue to distance themselves from their country's dark football past.
"Guys," he says, "have a chance to write their own stories now."
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