Big guns stand ready to roar

England edges Colombia in dramatic penalty shootout to complete quarterfinal bracket

MOSCOW — England became the last team to qualify for the World Cup quarterfinals after a nail-biting penalty shootout on Tuesday, as Brazil and France trained their sights on their last-eight opponents.

England’s victory over Colombia sends Gareth Southgate’s team into what looks like a winnable match against Sweden, which edged Switzerland 1-0 earlier on Tuesday.

Both teams are in the bottom half of the draw in Russia, along with the host nation and Croatia, with England the only former winner of the four teams.

The top half contains more heavyweights, with 1998 champion France taking on two-time winner Uruguay and five-time champion Brazil set to face Belgium.

Eric Dier’s spot-kick gave England its first-ever win on penalties at a World Cup on the fourth attempt — ending a decades-long jinx.

But Southgate said he was already looking forward to Saturday’s quarterfinal against Sweden in Samara, with a last-four clash against either Croatia or Russia up for grabs.

“This was special, but I want us to go on,” said Southgate, whose penalty miss saw England lose to Germany in the Euro 96 semifinals at Wembley.

“Sweden is another team we have a poor record against. We have underestimated them for years. They have created their own story and made history. I don’t want to go home yet.”

Janne Andersson’s Sweden has recovered well from a heartbreaking group-stage loss to Germany, seeing off Mexico before edging Switzerland 1-0 in the last 16.

RB Leipzig midfielder Emil Forsberg grabbed the only goal of a tight encounter midway through the second half to send his country into the quarters for the first time since 1994.

Neymar in spotlight

For all the drama around England, the winner of the tournament is more likely to come from the top half of the draw, where the teams boast a combined eight tournament titles.

Favored Brazil will come up against Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ in Kazan on Friday, while an exciting young France squad spearheaded by Kylian Mbappe takes on a shrewd Uruguay outfit in Nizhny Novgorod.

While much of the focus surrounding Brazil’s bid for a record-extending sixth world title has inevitably been on Neymar, the world’s most expensive player has hit the headlines as much for his perceived playacting as for on-pitch brilliance.

Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio said the stoppages caused by Neymar’s antics stalled his team during its 2-0 last-16 loss to Brazil, claiming the Paris Saint-Germain forward’s reaction to Miguel Layun stepping on his ankle was a “shame for football”.

Belgium was on the brink of another major tournament failure when trailing 2-0 with 21 minutes to play, only for a magnificent breakway goal by Nacer Chadli in the fourth minute of injury-time to cap a stunning fightback.

Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Dries Mertens and Kevin De Bruyne are likely to give Brazil’s defense the biggest test of their campaign so far, although the South Americans have only conceded once in four matches.

“This is the sort of game you dream about as a little boy and we can enjoy it from the first second,” said Belgium coach Roberto Martinez.

France never got out of first gear in easing through the group stage, but turned on the style as Mbappe dazzled in a classic 4-3 victory over Argentina to set up the clash with Uruguay.

“We have been preparing for months, for weeks to play matches like that,” said France coach Didier Deschamps.

Uruguay’s success has been built on a solid defense led by Atletico Madrid pair Jose Gimenez and Diego Godin, with the old-fashioned strike partnership of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani doing the damage at the other end with five goals between them.