England’s defeat to Belgium on Thursday night left them with Colombia as opponents in their last 16 tie to be held in Moscow on Tuesday night. The winner of this clash will go on to play Sweden or Switzerland in the quarter finals.
Gareth Southgate opted to rotate his team for the final group game against Belgium, with Jamie Vardy replacing Harry Kane and Eric Dier replacing Jordan Henderson. England lacked a cutting edge without the Tottenham striker in their team, while Marcus Rashford squandered England’s best chance of the match. England are supposedly in the easier side of the draw, but Colombia will be no pushovers, and this will be a tough game for England to get past.
As for Colombia, their star player James Rodriguez was taken off after 30 minutes against Senegal and he’s a doubt for Tuesday’s game. However, they finished top of a tough group, winning two games against Senegal and Poland. They lost to Japan in their opener. Their top scorer in the tournament so far is surprisingly Barcelona defender Yerry Mina and England will have to make sure he’s marked at set pieces.
England vs. Colombia Predictions
This game is very tough to call and there are arguments for both sides winning. However, if England can play like they did in the first two games then they should beat Colombia. It’ll be nerve-wracking for the nation if it goes to extra time or penalties.
England vs. Colombia Betting Tips
Head to Head
- England are unbeaten against Colombia, having faced them five times previously (W3 D2). Their last encounter dates back to May 2005 in New Jersey. England won 3-2, thanks to a Michael Owen hat-trick.
- England beat Colombia in their only previous W. Cup encounter thanks to goals from Darren Anderton and David Beckham (2-0). It was in the group stages of the 1998 tournament. Current England boss Gareth Southgate was an unused sub that night.
- Colombia have reached the knockout stages of the W. Cup for the third time, but it’s the first time they have accomplished it in consecutive tournaments (1990, 2014, 2018).
- Three of Colombia’s five goals at this year’s W. Cup have come from set-pieces (two from corners, one from direct free kicks), whilst England scored more goals from dead ball situations than any other team in the group stages (6).
- Colombia have scored in each of their last eight W. Cup games, the longest current run of any team as of the end of the 2018 group stages. The last time Colombia failed to find the net in the tournament was in June 1998 against England (0-2).
- None of Colombia’s 21 games at the W. Cup have ended goalless. In fact, only the USA (33) and Austria (29) have played more games in the competition without ever registering a 0-0.
- England have won only two of their last eight knockout games at the W. Cup (vs. Denmark in 2002 and Ecuador in 2006). They had progressed in six of their eight previous games in the knockout phase.
- Since (and including) the 1966 W. Cup final, 50% of England’s knockout games at the tournament have gone to extra time (7 out of 14). Three have been decided by a penalty shootout, all lost by England (Germany 1990, Argentina 1998, Portugal 2006).
- England have only failed to score in one of their 18 knockout games at the W. Cup. That was against Portugal in the 2006 quarter finals (0-0 a.e.t, 1-3 on penalties).
- Harry Kane has played 153 minutes at the W. Cup, but only Gary Lineker (10) has scored more times for England in the tournament than the Tottenham striker (5). If Kane finds the net against Colombia, he’ll become the first player to score in six consecutive games for the Three Lions since Tommy Lawton back in 1939.
- Juan Quintero has been directly involved in three of Colombia’s five goals at this W. Cup, scoring in the first game and delivering an assist in the second and third game.
England Team News
Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Manchester United), Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Crystal Palace), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal)
Colombia Team News
David Ospina (Arsenal), Camilo Vargas (Deportivo Cali), Jose Fernando Cuadrado (Once Caldas), Cristian Zapata (AC Milan), Davinson Sanchez (Tottenham Hotspur), Santiago Arias (PSV Eindhoven), Oscar Murillo (Pachuca), Frank Fabra (Boca Juniors), Johan Mojica (Girona), Yerry Mina (Barcelona), Wilmar Barrios (Boca Juniors), Carlos Sanchez (Espanyol), Jefferson Lerma (Levante), Jose Izquierdo (Brighton), James Rodriguez (Bayern Munich), Abel Aguilar (Deportivo Cali), Mateus Uribe (America), Juan Fernando Quintero (River Plate), Juan Cuadrado (Juventus), Radamel Falcao (Monaco), Miguel Borja (Palmeiras), Carlos Bacca (Villarreal), Luis Muriel (Sevilla)