England dare to dream after Belgium World Cup heroics

MOSCOW: England chase their first win in a tournament knockout match for 12 years on Tuesday as they face Colombia after the World Cup draw opened up invitingly for Harry Kane´s team.

In a tournament full of surprises, Gareth Southgate´s young England team are the only former champions left in the lower half of the draw following the shock exit of Spain.

If England get past Jose Pekerman´s tough South American side in Moscow they would play Sweden, who beat Switzerland in a low-key clash in Saint Petersburg with a deflected goal from Emil Forsberg, before a potential semi-final against Russia or Croatia.

Brazil and France lurk in the top half of the draw but Lionel Messi´s Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo´s Portugal are out.

Third-ranked Belgium avoided joining them on the tournament scrapheap late on Monday, mounting one of the great World Cup comebacks to beat Japan 3-2 in the dying seconds of injury time.

They became the first team to come from two goals down to win a World Cup knockout match since West Germany fought back from 2-0 down against England in 1970 to win 3-2 after extra-time.

Despite a growing sense of optimism over England´s chances in Russia, manager Southgate is warning his team against thinking too far ahead.

England, who won the World Cup in 1966, have a dreadful record in major tournaments, and have not won a knockout match since they beat Ecuador in the 2006 World Cup.

"I think we´ve been in this position before many times over the last however many years," Southgate said.

"It´s pointless about us even thinking about what might happen after tomorrow´s game. We´re focusing on tomorrow´s performance and then maybe things will fall into place."

Southgate used England´s shock defeat to tiny Iceland in the last 16 at Euro 2016 as a warning.

England scored eight goals in their opening two matches, beating Tunisia 2-1 with a late Kane goal before thrashing Panama 6-1. They then lost 1-0 to Belgium as Southgate made wholesale changes after they had already qualified.

Kane, the tournament´s top marksman with five goals in two matches, was rested against Panama and will be desperate to get back on the scoresheet as he hunts the Golden Boot.

Dele Alli is fully fit and could return in midfield after missing the past two games, but Colombia star James Rodriguez remains a doubt.

The Bayern Munich midfielder limped off with a calf problem during the first half of Colombia´s 1-0 win over Senegal but Pekerman said the injury was not serious.

Radamel Falcao will pose another threat to England´s defence. The striker is back on top form at Monaco after two dismal years at Manchester United and Chelsea.

In the early game on Tuesday, RB Leipzig striker Forsberg´s 66th-minute shot took the Swedes through to their first World Cup quarter-final since 1994, with the Swiss unable to respond.

Switzerland were badly affected by suspensions and were without both Fabian Schaer and captain Stephan Lichtsteiner at the back, but they will be disappointed by the limp manner of their exit.