Colombia boss Jose Pekerman expresses anger with England's players

Jordan Pickford helped the Three Lions end their penalty shootout hoodoo and reach the World Cup quarter-finals at the expense of the South American outfit in Moscow.

After decades stewing on his Euro 96 semi-final miss against Germany, Gareth Southgate has spent recent months trying to improve their chances in Russia if it went all the way.

Things looked set to go pear-shaped when Jordan Henderson's penalty was saved, only for Mateus Uribe's spot-kick to rattle the bar and goalkeeper Pickford to deny Carlos Bacca.

Speaking after the game, Pekerman was frustrated by the perceived antics of England's players, insisting the officials will come down more harshly on them in Saturday's quarter-final against Sweden.

"Players fall in the box, they collide and fall," he said.

"You have to try and stand in the shoes of these players. They are subject to situations which shouldn't really be present in football.

"These interruptions are bad. When there are so, so many fouls and interruptions I think that's not good.

"We have to try and find the right balance so that football can happen and the two sides can play the match with good intentions.

"We shouldn't only look at Colombian players, people should look at England players. I wish I was wrong, but I think from the next match England will be much more careful.

"Today we were on the receiving end of this but I hope it won't happen again. It's been absolutely obvious, too obvious."

He added: "I think we have to try and defend football and we should do a little more to try to prevent certain situations knowing that they may arise.

"It has been very uncomfortable to play this match knowing that feeling was in the air about refereeing decisions.

"Something is happening in football. There is a lot of confusion. What if the player falls because he fakes a fall or is being pushed by an opponent or they are trying to get the referee to book another player?"

However, England manager Gareth Southgate defended his players, arguing that Colombia committed more fouls in the game.

And he hit back at accusations that his players played with less honour than England teams of years gone by.

"Maybe we are getting a bit smarter," Southgate said.

"Maybe we are now playing some of our game by the rules the rest of the world are playing.

"I think we also kept our dignity, kept our sportsmanship and if we went down it's because we were fouled.

"I thought there were many, many fouls in the game and I don't think we conceded anywhere near the number of our opponents.

"I'm proud of the discipline. We kept our composure in a really difficult environment and we deserved to win."

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