England’s last-16 World Cup tie against Colombia is the national side’s “biggest knockout game for a decade”, says manager Gareth Southgate. England will play the South Americans on Tuesday after a 1-0 loss to Belgium saw them finish runners-up in Group G. Southgate said: “What we have to do is prepare for a thrilling knockout game. Our objective was to qualify from the group and we have done that. “We are still a work in progress but that’s not a bad thing at this stage.” England defeated Tunisia with a last-gasp Harry Kane goal and thrashed Panama 6-1 in their second game, as both themselves and Belgium guaranteed progress to the knockout stage with a match to spare. Southgate and Belgium boss Roberto Martinez made wholesale changes to their starting line-ups in Kaliningrad, with both aware that finishing second offers what appears a more favourable route through the knockout rounds. Should they beat Colombia, England will face Sweden or Switzerland, swerving a potential quarter-final against Brazil and also meaning they avoid the side of the draw which features four of the seven highest-ranked sides in the world.
