A thumping 30th-minute Harry Maguire header from a corner gave England a 1-0 lead over Sweden in their World Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
A thumping 30th-minute Harry Maguire header from a corner gave England a 1-0 lead over Sweden in their World Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
Centre-back Maguire connected with an Ashley Young corner to score his first international goal and reward England for their more adventurous approach in a largely cautious first half.
The winners will play either Russia or Croatia, who meet later on Saturday, in the semi-finals.
England have not been in the last-eight since 2006, when tens of thousands of England fans travelled to Germany to watch their side lose. But when England face Sweden in Russia on Saturday, there will be few England supporters. According to a few reports, stadium on Saturday will barely have 3,000 English supporters. Looks like, nobody thought, ‘it could come home!’
Watch Harry Maguire's goal here:
A first-ever World Cup penalty shootout win in the last 16, against Colombia, followed months of practice from the spot and psychometric tests on the players to determine who was best placed to handle the pressure.
Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford even switched his water bottle before the shootout for one with where the Colombians preferred to put their penalties written on the side.
"We'd done all the hard work on the training pitch and we were able to execute when we were there," said defender John Stones.
"It's about covering all the bases and making sure that you are taking in every detail to give you the best advantage you can. That's down to the staff, down to the players, the hours on the training pitch." Much of that preparation comes from Southgate's own experience of missing a penalty in the semi-final of Euro 96.
Had things gone to plan for England, though, he would not even have been in charge in Russia. After a humiliating Euro 2016 exit to Iceland, England's Football Association backed the experience of Sam Allardyce.
But his reign lasted a mere 67 days, Allardyce standing down after a single match in charge following a newspaper sting. Then under-21 manager, the appointment of the affable Southgate was seen as a safe option.
However, he has defied expectations with bold decisions by jettisoning some experienced figures to take the third-youngest squad in the competition to Russia.
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