England have good reason to be optimistic when they face Colombia on Tuesday for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals, but recent history is not on their side.
As Gareth Southgate has been quick to point out to the media in Russia, England have not won a knockout game at a major tournament since 2006.
That 1-0 win over Ecuador in Germany came courtesy of a David Beckham free-kick, but Sven Goran Eriksson’s men were eliminated by Portugal in the last eight.
England did not even qualify for the 2008 European Championships and have failed to win their three knockout games since then. Here’s the full list of wins since 1966…
1986 – England 3-0 Paraguay
England ended a 20-year wait for a knockout victory that dated back to the 1966 World Cup final when they defeated Paraguay emphatically during the last-16 stage of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. In-form Gary Lineker scored twice with Peter Beardsley also finding the net in front of a crowd of nearly 100,000 in the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
1990 – England 1-0 Belgium
In a classic encounter at Italia ’90, these two teams traded blows over two hours in Bologna with Belgium twice hitting the post and John Barnes seeing a goal disallowed for offside. But with penalties looming, substitute David Platt swivelled brilliantly to hook home Paul Gascoigne’s free-kick on the volley and send England into the quarter-finals.
1990 – England 3-2 Cameroon
With Cameroon having become the first African team to reach the quarter-finals at a World Cup, England were much fancied to have too much for their opponents but were fortunate to get the win after extra-time. After Platt’s early goal in Naples, Cameroon were seven minutes from victory before two Lineker penalties helped England into the last four.
1996 – England 0-0 Spain
On home soil at Euro ’96, excitement was reaching fever pitch but it required penalties – and a slice of luck – for England to find a way past Spain in the last eight. The visitors had a goal wrongly disallowed at Wembley and after Stuart Pearce’s cathartic penalty in the shootout, David Seaman saved well from Miguel Angel Nadal to send England through.
2002 – England 3-0 Denmark
Denmark had topped their group courtesy of a 2-0 win over reigning champions France, but Eriksson’s England blew them away thanks to three first-half goals in Japan. Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen and Emile Heskey all got on the scoresheet before the break, the victory setting up a quarter-final clash with Brazil that ended in a 2-1 defeat.
2006 – England 1-0 Ecuador
Beckham became the first England player to score in three World Cups when he curled in a low free-kick on the hour mark to edge out Ecuador in Stuttgart. The result set up a quarter-final clash with Portugal but Wayne Rooney saw red and Eriksson’s side lost the tie on penalties. Twelve years on and England are still waiting for their next knockout win.
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