Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
England turns tables on woes in shootout
MOSCOW » In a World Cup of surprises, England provided the latest by finally winning a penalty shootout.
A long run of penalty misery on soccer’s biggest stage ended with a 4-3 shootout victory over Colombia on Tuesday, sending England to the quarterfinals for the first time in 12 years.
Eric Dier scored the decisive kick after a scrappy game ended in a 1-1 draw, denying Colombia a second consecutive trip to the quarterfinals.
“It was a nervous one,” Dier said. “I’ve never really been in a situation like that before.”
England will play Sweden in the quarterfinals on Saturday in Samara. It is the furthest England has progressed in any tournament since the David Beckham era, when a golden generation of players exited the 2002 and 2006 World Cups in the last eight.
England is advancing in Russia after defending champion Germany was eliminated early and Argentina, Portugal and Spain went home in the round of 16.
Harry Kane gave England the lead with a penalty kick in the 57th minute. But as the game entered the third minute of stoppage time, Yerry Mina headed in an equalizer.
“To get knocked down at the end like we did at the end, it’s difficult to come back from that,” Dier said. “But we were ready for that. We were calm. We stuck to our plan.”
England trailed 3-2 in the penalty shootout after Jordan Henderson’s shot was saved, but Mateus Uribe hit the bar and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford then saved Carlos Bacca’s kick.
“I did a whole bunch of research,” Pickford said. “Falcao is the only one who didn’t go his way. I don’t care if I’m not the biggest keeper in the world. I have the power and agility.”
Pickford succeeded where Peter Shilton, David Seaman and Paul Robinson failed as the 1990, 1998 and 2006 World Cup campaigns ended in shootout losses. On top of that, England was knocked out of the 1996 European Championship semifinals and the quarterfinals in 2004 and 2012 on penalties. The country’s only shootout success came at Euro ’96.
With a fresh generation of players not burdened by past misery, England coach Gareth Southgate has helped to banish painful memories of his own: Missing the final kick at Euro ’96 against Germany.
After exiting the 2014 World Cup without winning a game in the group stage, the squad has been remodeled with a youthful, more street-wise mentality by Southgate at his first major tournament as coach. SWEDEN 1, SWITZERLAND 0 » The heir to Zlatan Ibrahimovic finally delivered for Sweden at the World Cup.
Emil Forsberg scored a deflected goal in the 66th minute to give the Swedes a victory over Switzerland and a place in the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in 24 years.
Shy and understated, the 26-year-old Forsberg couldn’t be more different than the larger-than-life Ibrahimovic, who ruled the Sweden team for more than a decade and was the greatest player the country ever produced.
But Forsberg arrived in Russia shouldering the creative burden left by Ibrahimovic following his retirement two years ago, and the attacking midfielder’s skills and slick movement stood out at St. Petersburg Stadium.
Forsberg’s scruffy shot from the edge of the area was likely heading straight for Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer, but it took a deflection off the boot of center back Manuel Akanji and landed in the net.
In stoppage time, Michael Lang was sent off for Switzerland for a professional foul on Sweden substitute Martin Olsson. The referee initially awarded a penalty kick but later gave a free kick after a video review.
Sweden became the fifth European team to reach the quarterfinals; the last time Sweden made it this far at the World Cup was in 1994, when the team reached the semifinals.