England players have created their own history: Southgate

Moscow, July 4: England coach Gareth Southgate said his men have created their own history and the team wanted to win more after their victory over Colombia in the World Cup.

England won the World Cup round of 16 game at the Spartak Stadium beating Colombia 4-3 on penalties to reach the quarterfinals. The score was 1-1 after 90 minutes. It is the first time that England has won a penalty shootout in World Cup history.

Southgate said at a post-match press conference on Tuesday that the victory was a really important moment, reports Xinhua news agency.

“Not just winning the shootout but having to suffer at the end of the game in a stadium there were huge numbers of Colombian fans and we felt like an away fixture. Tonight, we showed we don’t have to conform to what’s gone before. We have created our own history, and I don’t want to go home yet,” he said.

Southgate also hopes the result will give belief to “generations of (English) players that will follow”. The coach revealed that his team has prepared for a penalty shootout situation.

“We’d talked about owning the process, and we got the rewards tonight. We looked at individual techniques and how we needed to be as a team. The goalkeepers have been very important in that as well,” the 47-year-old coach said.

After defeating Colombia, England will face Sweden in the quarterfinals on July 7 in Samara and winners of that match will play either Russia or Croatia on July 11.

Southgate said the match against Sweden will be difficult.

“Sweden is another team we have a poor record against, who we’ve underestimated in the past. We know exactly how they play and it’s going to be a real tough test,” he said. (IANS)