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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 JULY 2018 20 WORLD CUP SPORTS ENGLAND beat Colombia 4-3 on penalties on Tuesday after Eric Dier scored the de- cisive spot kick to send them through to a World Cup quar- ter-final against Sweden. England had looked on course for their first win in a knockout round of a tourna- ment in 12 years when captain Harry Kane struck a well-tak- en penalty in the 57th minute. But Colombia defender Ye- rry Mina snatched a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser with his third goal in three match- es to force extra time which ended with the game level at 1-1. Eric Dier stuck away the win- ning spot kick in the shootout after a couple of crucial saves from Jordan Pickford to send Gareth Southgate's side into the final eight of the tourna- ment. But they were made to work for it. Harry Kane's 57th-minute penalty looked set to clinch the win in 90 minutes for the Three Lions, with England holding that lead until the fourth minute of stoppage time. Until then, Colombia hadn't posed much of a goal threat and so there appeared to be little for England to wor- ry about. This all changed when Yerry Mina squeezed home a head- er from a corner kick with just seconds left to play, send- ing the match into extra time. Extra time was a tense affair as both sides prepared for the inevitable shootout decider, but it was England who came out on top in the end. England blinked first in the penalty shootout with Jordan Henderson seeing his effort saved by David Ospina but Colombia missed the next two - Mateus Uribe hit the bar before Carlos Bacca saw his penalty saved - allowing Dier the opportunity to send England through. Colombia England 1 1 Yerry Mina 90' Harry Kane 57' (pen) England win 4-3 after penalties Sweden down Switzerland in drab affair to make last eight A deflected shot from Emil Fors- berg gave Sweden a 1-0 victory over Switzerland in a scrappy round of 16 match on Tuesday, sending the Swedes through to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in 24 years. A meeting with either Colom- bia or England awaits Janne An- dersson's side in the next round, but judging by the fare they served up in St Petersburg, nei- ther of their potential opponents will lose sleep over the prospect of facing the limited Swedish at- tack. Both teams were wasteful in possession and guilty of the sort of poor finishing and unimagina- tive midfield play that had boos and whistles ringing around the St Petersburg stadium from as early as the 25th minute. Switzerland came into the match as the side with arguably the greater wealth of attacking talent, but their four shots on target over the 90 minutes told its own story. Sweden had one attempt fewer on target, with the only differ- ence being that one effort took a heavy deflection and wrong- footed Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer to send the Swedes into the next round. "It's the biggest goal of my career, one of the biggest moments in my career too. To experience this, to fire Sweden into a quarter-finals together with this group, it feels fantastic," said Fors- berg. The Swedes were happy to pack midfield as they have done for the entire tour- nament and shepherd the Swiss down the wings, sur- rendering possession while looking to pinch a goal on the counter. Marcus Berg forced a fine save from Sommer in the 27th minute and Albin Ekdal squan- dered an excellent chance when he volleyed over the bar from 12 metres after getting on the end of a cross from Mikael Lustig. At the other end, Blerim Dze- maili wasted Switzerland's best chance when he fired over from 12 metres, while Xherdan Shaqiri had an awful day, sending long balls from the wing sailing over the heads of his team mates with alarming regularity. The teams went into the inter- val goalless and the second half started in a similarly stultifying manner, with the game looking like it was inching inevitably to- wards extra time and potentially a penalty shootout. Even the goal had a fair bit of fortune about it. Forsberg's 66th- minute shot was directed straight at Sommer until Manuel Akanji stuck out a foot and deflected it past his stranded keeper. "(Forsberg) has developed in terms of the holistic approach to his game," Andersson said of his goalscorer. "Even if he doesn't succeed in every part of his game, he does very well." That was a fair assessment of Forsberg's contribution before and after his goal, with the RB Leipzig midfielder unable to bring any sort of influence to bear for large parts of the match. Andersson, however, is not un- duly troubled by his team's lack of creativity. "We know that we're a good team, we've earned our successes. We know how we've got this far," the coach added. "What other teams and countries think about that, you'll have to ask them." Switzerland sparked into life af- ter going behind, but Sweden de- fended stoutly, making 33 clear- ances and nine blocks in total, while completing fewer than half the number of passes that their opponents did. They broke through the Swiss cordon deep into extra time when the substitute Martin Ols- son was released into space and brought down by Michael Lang just outside the box. The referee gave Lang a red card and at first awarded a pen- alty to the Swedes, but changed his mind after consulting the video assistant referee (VAR) and instead awarded a free kick. Sommer saved Ola Toivonen's effort, and the game ended sec- onds later. Sweden Switzerland 1 0 Emil Forsberg 66' England beat Colombia on penalties to make quarter-finals