FIFA WC: England face Colombia challenge in knockouts

Moscow [Russia], July 3 (ANI): England will look to book their spot in the quarter-finals of the ongoing 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup when they lock horns with Colombia here at Spartak Stadium on Tuesday.

England, who have had a successful run in their group stage, will look to replicate their good performances in the tournament so far heading into the knock-out round.

The Harry Kane-led side are coming off on the back of two thumping victories in the group stage. They defeated Tunisia 2-1 in the opening clash of the tournament followed by a cracking 6-1 win over Panama. The English team lost their final clash of the group stage to Belgium 0-1.

Colombia, on the other hand, will also be high on confidence after beating Senegal and Poland in their last two clashes after losing their first match of the group stage 1-2 against Japan.

Looking at the statistics, the English team have not won their knockout round at the World Cup since 2006.

As far as the head-to-head record is concerned, England have faced Colombia five times before and are way ahead of the Colombians as they won three matches and played two draws against them.

In other clashes of the day, 24th-ranked Sweden will collide with world number twenty four Switzerland to get through the knockout round of the tournament.

After having a roller-costar ride in the group stages, both the team will look to put forth a solid performance to cement their place in the quarter-final.

While Sweden have won their two group matches against Mexico and South Korea, they were defeated 1-2 by the 2014 champions Germany in the second group-stage clash.

Switzerland, on the other hand, have played two draws against Brazil and Costa Rica and were beaten by Serbia 1-2 in the second match of the group stage.

On a related note, the England and Colombia squads are as follow:

England

Goalkeepers- Nick Pope, Jordan Pickford, Jack Butland.

Defenders- Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Kieran Trippier, Gary Cahill, Phil Jones, Fabian Delph, Ashley Young, Trent-Alexander Arnold.

Midfielders- Eric Dier, Jesse Lingard, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Ruben-Loftus Cheek.

Forwards- Harry Kane (C), Raheem Sterling, Jamie Vardy, Danny Welbeck, Marcus Rashford.

Colombia

Goalkeepers- David Ospina, Camilo Vargas, Jose Fernando Cuadrado.

Defenders- Cristian Zapata, Davinson Sanchez, Santiago Arias, Oscar Murillo, Frank Fabra , Johan Mojica, Yerry Mina.

Midfielders- Wílmar Barrios, Carlos Sanchez, Jefferson Lerma, Jose Izquierdo, James Rodriguez, Abel Aguilar, Mateus Uribe, Juan Fernando Quintero, Juan Cuadrado.

Forwards- Radamel Falcao, Miguel Borja, Carlos Bacca, Luis Muriel. (ANI)

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