Now Spain head home asRussia win sparks big party in Moscow

Hosts beat Spain..so our route only has Colombia, Croatia, Russia, Swiss & Sweden

ENGLAND’S World Cup hopes were given a major boost as Spain joined the list of high-profile casualties.

Hosts Russia pulled off a huge shock with a penalty shoot-out triumph over 2010 World Cup winners Spain to blow England’s side of the draw wide open. Russia’s win

means one of England, Russia, Croatia, Switzerland, Sweden and Colombia will now make the final in Moscow.

Spain boss Fernando Hierro, who stepped into the role on the eve of the tournament following the sacking of Julen Lopetegui, accepted responsibility for the defeat.

“We are talking about a generation of extraordinary players but we have not performed as we would like,” said Hierro, as his players looked shattered (below).

“I’m head coach and if anybody needs to shoulder this responsibility it is me. We can’t be finger-pointing. I’m not going to blame others.”

Spain dominated the game for 120 minutes but were unable to break down Russia and paid the price in the shoot-out. Igor Akinfeev saved from Koke and then from former Liverpool striker Igor Aspas to send the hosts through into a quarter-final showdown in Sochi. Russia’s shoot-out hero Akinfeev said: “Maybe we didn’t play the way we wanted, maybe we didn’t attack that much, but you can’t do that against Spain.” Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov defended his side’s negative approach and said: “Spain are better than us in many ways so I don’t think we should have risked going forward. “We could have attacked better but if we had chosen different tactics we would not have done as well.” The shoot-out defeat was the last international game for Andres Iniesta. The midfielder, who has made 131 appearances for Spain, said: “A marvellous chapter has ended.”