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Group G - Colombia-England, England reaches Round of 16 |  |
Was that really England out there?
Darren Anderton powered an angled shot that almost took the roof off the net. And David Beckham bent a 30-meter free kick round the Colombian wall and inside the left hand post in a convincing 2-0 victory Friday.
Anderton and Beckham were members of a team once ridiculed for its lack of flair and finesse. Now England is in the second round of the World Cup and in the mood to stop Argentina.
Although England needed only a tie to guarantee a place in the final 16 -- and with royal fans Prince Charles and Prince Harry in the stands -- Anderton and Beckham delighted a huge following of English fans at Felix Bollaert Stadium.
"Overall it was a terrific performance. Tactically we got it right ... the amount of chances we created, we could have scored four or five," England coach Glenn Hoddle said. "There's more to come from us."
England finished second behind Romania in Group G and will meet old foe Argentina in Saint-Etienne for a place in the quarterfinals.
"It was a very conclusive victory," said Hoddle. "We controlled the whole game. We played very well in attack and we defended well at the back. I was delighted with the speed and movement of Michael (Owen) and Alan (Shearer).
The Colombians go home early for the second time in a row. Their disastrous 1994 performance led to the shooting to death of Andres Escobar, who scored an own goal in a loss to the United States, and was gunned down in his home town of Medellin a few days later.
Colombia was the only Latin American team not to advance this year.
If it hadn't been for acrobatic goalkeeper Farid Mondragon, the Colombians would have lost by an embarrassing score.
After making at least seven second-half saves, Mondragon left the field in tears, consoled by his colleagues and England goalkeeper David Seaman.
"All our players got 8-plus out of 10 tonight," Hoddle said. "We passed the ball extremely well and we defended the game well."
Colombia never got untracked.
"England was the better team tonight, especially in terms of their attack," said Colombian coach Hernan Gomez. "Colombia didn't have much firepower tonight, even when we changed the tactics. We were't able to open up spaces and England was also very effective in shutting down our play."
On the first goal, the Colombian defense struggled to clear a right wing cross and the ball dropped to the unmarked Anderton just inside the penalty area. He hammered the ball into the top of the net from an acute angle with Mondragon powerless.
"It may not have been one of my best goals, but it was the sweetest," Anderton said. "It was a great result for all of us tonight, but I always thought we would do well. This was a massive game."
The second goal came in the 29th minute came in spectacular style.
Paul Ince was brought down 30 yards from goal and Beckham produced one of his speciality free kicks, curling the ball around the defensive wall past the despairing dive of Mondragon and inside the post.
