England vs Colombia: Gareth Southgate praises England for keeping World Cup cool against Colombia rough tactics

Colombia employed a physical approach throughout the contest, including an apparent headbutt on Jordan Henderson in the first half which received only a yellow card

Gareth Southgate praised his England players for keeping their cool in the face of rough tactics from Colombia after his side won a penalty shootout to advance from a gripping World Cup round-of-16 tie.

Colombia employed a physical approach throughout the contest, including an apparent headbutt on Jordan Henderson in the first half for which Wilmar Barrios received only a yellow card.

Southgate admitted his players and staff had been prepared for rough treatment from Colombia and was delighted with how his players handled themselves.

“We didn’t rise to it which was brilliant,” said Southgate afterwards. ”A couple of times we lost our cool but generally we didn’t. Our fans were brilliant tonight but this was like an away game out there, so the players handled it well.”

England won their first ever penalty shootout in a World Cup, prevailing 4-3 after Eric Dier’s winning strike past goalkeeper David Ospina. Southgate said England have been preparing meticulously for penalties.

Gareth Southgate celebrates with his staff (Getty Images)

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

“I’m now thinking about Sweden. Sweden is another team we have a poor record against, who we’ve underestimated in the past. We know exactly how they play and its going to be a real tough test. We’ve talked about creating our own stories, crating our own history and we did that. I don’t want to go home yet.”