FIFA World Cup - England has not just advanced to the quarter-finals, it has banished the curse of the spot kick to the history pages, writes Jamie Wall.
England's Harry Kane and John Stones celebrate winning the penalty shootout at the end of the Russia 2018 World Cup round of 16 football match between Colombia and England. Photo: AFP
In a stadium named for the legendary slave that defied an empire, a supposedly crumbling football empire just defied all predictions. England, written off by everyone before this year's World Cup, have just advanced to the quarter finals - and they did so by probably reducing an entire nation to nervous wrecks.
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Believe it. The English football team just won a penalty shootout this morning to win a knockout game in a major tournament, breaking a curse that's stretched back as far as the format has been in football.
Not only that, but they did it by completely flipping the script at the last minute. It was all set up for them to blow it like they've done in the past, after they'd taken the lead through an almost inevitable penalty in the 57th minute by skipper Harry Kane.
All they had to do was sit back and defend, because Colombia had shown absolutely nothing at all, other than a propensity to hack the English players and argue with the ref.
Go back and see how it all went down with Jamie Wall's live blog here.
It seemed like it was going to be one of the easier, albeit uglier, 1-0 wins.
Colombia were literally hamstrung by the loss of playmaker James Rodriguez, but suddenly burst into life in stoppage time when gigantic Yerry Mina climbed over everyone to head home a heartbreaking equalizer.
Eric Dier probably would've been vilified by an eager public and press after he missed a free header as extra time expired, not least because his easily pun-able surname. But he and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made sure that the headlines wouldn't be dire at all, with a save and cooly-slotted last penalty to seal the deal and banish the curse of the spot kick to the history pages.
Cue the celebrations in the old country and pubs around Aotearoa alike. As much as we like to give the English migrant workers here grief for the times that their teams are crushed when they venture down here, it's hard not to raise a smile at their side's success.
It's about as close as New Zealand will have to a men's football team doing well at a World Cup, so we may as well ride the coat-tails of the island on the other side of the world that takes up 20 percent of our flag. Besides, if they make a semi-final it's an excuse to go to the pub on a Wednesday morning next week before work.
The scenes when England won the penalty shootout, best fans in the world. pic.twitter.com/IAQiGUnfbk
— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) July 3, 2018
But spare a thought for the Colombians, not least because on social media an awful lot of people who should know better didn't even know how to spell the name of their country.
While they cynically battered their way through 120 minutes of football and showed absolutely none of the class that made them tournament darlings four years ago, their World Cup legacy is far darker than a simple string of missed penalty shootouts.
The fans are lively in Leicester where Steve Smith watched England win against Columbia on penalties. @StephenSmithBBC | #ENGCOL | #WorldCup | #newsnight pic.twitter.com/AyJBf5lBFg
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) July 3, 2018
Not many casual football fans talk much about Colombian football without mentioning Andrés Escobar before long. The defender was shot to death after returning home from the 1994 World Cup by Medellin drug cartel henchmen, after scoring an own goal that eliminated the team from the tournament.
It would have been an incredibly positive outcome to have them go deep or even win a World Cup, which would create a new legacy for the football-crazy country.
But now, as if it wasn't apparent already, the weight of a nation is now firmly on the English. They like to say 'football's coming home', as if the World Cup only began in 1966 when 97,000 people crammed into Wembley to see them lift the trophy for the only time in their history.
This doesn't roll around this often, so you might as well enjoy the fun - while it lasts.
