England centre-back John Stones criticised Colombia as the “dirtiest team I’ve ever come up against” for their fiesty and nasty approach and mental provocation in the last-16 defeat on Tuesday.
England progressrd to the quarterfinals, winning via a penalty-shootout after the game had remained at 1-1 following extra-time.
As many as eight yellow cards were issued during the course of the match – the joint most for cards shown in a single match this tournament. Colombia were at the end of receiving six of them.
“The game was so strange,” said Stones. “It was the dirtiest team I’ve ever come up against, in the respect of when we won a penalty, surrounding the referee, pushing the referee, the headbutt you’ve all seen, scuffing the penalty spot and a lot of off the ball spot I’m sure you’ve not heard about.”
Wilmar Barrios was lucky to receive only a yellow card for an alleged headbutt on Jordan Henderson, when Colombia were protesting Mark Geiger’s decision to award England a penalty for Carlos Sanchez’s foul on Harry Kane.
Raheem Sterling was then shoulder barged by a member of the Colombian coaching staff as the players left the field for half time, which was quite surprising to Stones.
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“All the sort of things you don’t really hear in a football match. On our behalf it showed massive character to keep a cool head and not get dragged into their game. It’s a sign of our growing maturity at the World Cup,” said the Manchester City centre-half.
“We stick to our plan and kept playing our way to football and that’s a great qualify to have. It was a difficult situation but one we’ve overcome and can be proud of,” he added.
But while Colombia were heavily criticised for their over the required physicality, England weren’t completely innocent.
Harry Maguire looked to have appeared to dive in the opposition box and Jordan Henderson was booked for an aggressive altercation with Yerrry Mina.
Coach Gareth Southgate later admitted that England were beginning to learn to play the style of football the world plays. The ‘Three lions’ were also blamed for their titme-wasting tactics after taking a 1-0 lead.
But with the penalty ghost beaten and England into the quarter-finals for the first time in 12 years, Stones hopes that they can carry their brand of football much further into the tournament.
“We keep playing our own football and that’s a great sign for a team to have,” said Stones
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England next face Sweden in the quarterfinals on Saturday, with an eye to reaching the finals for the first time since 1966.
Stones though isn’t looking too far ahead, especially with England winning just two matches, in its last 15 meetings with the Swedes.