England won a World Cup penalty shootout for the first time ever to progress to the quarter-finals against Colombia at the the Otkrytie Arena in Moscow on Tuesday.
Six of England’s eight previous goals at this tournament had come from dead-ball situations but a series of early set pieces were well defended by Colombia.
Referee Mark Geiger missed the incident, which was picked up by the VAR officials who instructed the American to issue only a yellow card despite it being clear that Barrios thumped his head into the Liverpool captain’s chest.
That episode sparked a lively end to the first period as Trippier and Harry Kane shot wide from outside of the box, and Juan Quintero had Colombia’s first shot on target with a 25-yard strike with Jordan Pickford held with authority.
Colombia’s bullying tactics escalated after the break and they were punished on 54 minutes when Carlos Sanchez, who was sent off in his country’s opening Group H match, was called up for wrestling down Kane from a corner.
While all about him were losing theirs, the England captain kept his composure following a three-minute delay to slot the spot kick down the middle for his sixth goal of the tournament – two more than his nearest rival.
Colombia collected five yellow cards before the 70th minute and their dirty tricks were at the detriment of their attacking play as they only seemed to focus their energy on grabbing an equaliser in the final 10 minutes.
Falcao headed over the crossbar from Johan Mojica’s delivery and when Jordan Pickford acrobatically pushed Mateus Uribe’s speculative 40-yard volley behind with his fingertips, England’s spot in the quarter-finals looked safe.
However, towering defender Mina rose from a 93rd-minute corner to head home his third goal in three games, squeezing his effort between Pickford and the defender on the line to devastate England and keep their own tournament alive.
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