England pressured Colombia early on in the first half. The pressure causing a few bad tackles from the opposition, and providing set pieces. The much criticized Raheem Sterling, unfairly in my opinion, was finding space and causing problems.
Football Versus Fightball:
The new style of play from England is one more of the high press and suffocating the opposition of possession. The Colombians knew if they were to go toe to toe with the English, then Southgates men would pick them off. As a result the Colombian tactic was to attempt to bully the English, foul and otherwise get into altercations.
Ramedal Falcao, a fantastic striker, spent most of his time in a feud with Trippier and the other English defenders. His team mate, Caudrado, pursued a similar battle with Leicester City's Harry Maguire.
I had been much critical of Harry in previous games in the World Cup with his off target and loose passing. This game though, he stepped up, and was seemingly more comfortable in his role on the Worlds stage.
As England tried to play, the Colombians tried to agitate. Gamesmanship prior to English free kicks were the norm and a head butt on Jordan Henderson resulted in only a yellow for Barrios. The two sides game plans were on show, and it was debatable as to whether all 22 players would remain on the field of play.
As half time arrived England had enjoyed 55% possession, although only one of their eight attempts had been on target. They had been resolute in their efforts to not get drawn into the Colombian dark arts
Kaptain Kane:
A little over ten minutes into the second half, and Harry Kane was brought down in the area. Carlos Sanchez is shown the yellow card after bringing down the England captain. Two minutes later, Jordan Henderson is also shown a yellow card. Eventually, and three whole minutes after the award of the penalty, Mark Geiger cleared the area to allow Kane the spot kick.
Calm and confident, Harry Kane did not allow the intimidation nor time he waited get in his head. A sure strike bulged the net and England were a goal up. From then on it was all England. The foul count rose, but the amount of yellow cards issued didn't.
Fifteen minutes from time, Colombia had committed fifteen fouls, and only shown five yellow cards. By the end of the 90 minutes they had added five more fouls but zero yellow cards. The referee had lost control of the game early on, and was seemingly now reluctant to issue more cards.
Same Film, Different Ending:
With only one shot on target, producing a fantastic save from Pickford by the way, England were home and dry. That save from Pickford led to the Colombians getting a corner in the 93rd minute. Driven in, Henderson got blocked off and Yerry Mina scored to level the tie.
I, and I expect most long suffering English fans, now saw nothing but a Colombia win. The momentum was with them and, despite their tactics during the game, they were now best placed to go on to win. Indeed the first fifteen minutes of that extra time was all Colombia. Doubling their shots on goal while England didn't have a sniff.
In the second period of extra time England got more of a foothold in the game. Neither side wanted to concede a goal, and so neither side really probed too much. As a result, both sides played away time and waited for the penalty kicks.
Both Falcao, Cuadrado for Colombia and Kane, Rashford for England put away the sides first two penalties. Next up was Muriel who scored before Jordan Henderson missed to put that all too familiar feeling back in Three Lions hearts.
Uribe, a second half substitute then put his strike onto the bar, down and out while Kieran Trippier hammered his kick home with the confidence of a seasoned International pro. So when Bacca's final penalty was saved by a strong hand from Pickford it came down to one man.
Jamie Vardy was meant to be that man, but a groin injury picked up was reason enough that he shouldn't take a penalty. So up stepped the dancing baby all grown up, Eric Dier, and it was his right foot which sent the ball to the bottom left corner and past Ospina. That gave England the win and progress through to the next round, to face Sweden.
Geiger Counter:
The referee, Mark Geiger received criticism from Colombian players as well as Argentinian legend, Diego Maradona. England also had cause for complaint when a blatant head butt was only punished by a yellow. All in all, and probably because England were ultimately victorious, those complaints were less ferocious.
It seems that the match might have overwhelmed the American referee, who seemed to have lost control somewhat at points. The penalty and every free kick awarded to the English in danger zones contested and argued for what seemed like an age.
Certainly, unlike Maradona, I don't think many thought Colombia deserved anything from the 90 minutes. Falcao spoke of the referee stating a pro English bias. He would go on to say that the referee would side with England in the 50-50's and didn't act with the same criteria for both sides.
Take the refereeing decisions away from the game, the Colombians were not there to play football. They were there to provoke and try to get the England players into scraps and, for the most part, England didn't bite.
The only side attempting to play football were England while the opposition would follow through long after a ball had gone or leave a boot in to make sure their opposite number knew they were there.
As for Maradona, he has since issued an apology for his comments. I would guess it is not because he didn't mean them, but more that FIFA, strongly rebuked the comments of one of their VIP guests. Maradona claimed 'monumental robbery' on Venezuelan TV. He also called into question the referees credentials, claiming he shouldn't have been given such a game.
So who is Geiger? The 43 year old American referee took charge of his first World Cup game in the 2011 U-20 World Cup, held in Colombia. He refereed the Final, a game in which Brazil defeated Portugal 3-2in extra time.
He has refereed in the London Olympics, with Spain against Japan and Japan against Egypt. He refereed his first World Cup senior game in Brazil, 2014. In his first game, Colombia and Greece, he refereed a 3-0 victory for the South Americans. No one was complaining about his credentials at that point. His second game saw Chile beat Spain as yet another South American side beat a European side.
But it really doesn't matter. Maradona has been forced to issue an apology and Colombia are haeding home after a disgraceful final performance. For England its Sweden on Saturday and, hopefully, we'll get to see a real game of football with both sides coming to play.
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