Harry Kane said England’s belief is growing after the Three Lions made it to the World Cup quarter-finals with an incredible penalty shootout victory over Colombia.
Eric Dier slotted home the winning spot-kick after Jordan Pickford made a stunning save to deny Carlos Bacca.
This is England’s first win in a penalty shootout at a World Cup-ending their hoodoo that has haunted them since the Italia 90, where they lost to West Germany.
Earlier, Kane gave England the lead in the second-half with a penalty after Carlos Sanchez hauled the striker to the ground.
But Yerri Mina’s towering header in the third minute of stoppage time forced another nail-biting further 30 minutes.
It was a fiery World Cup tie, with Colombia’s aggressive tactics attracting a great deal of criticism on Twitter.
And despite initially falling behind in the shootout, Gareth Southgate’s men showed great resolve to put England in the last eight.
Speaking to talkSPORT’s Nigel Adderley after the game, Kane was beaming with pride at his team’s character.
He said: “I’m so proud. It’s an emotional night for us. We stepped up when it mattered.
“Over the years England have taken some stick so it’s nice to not be on the end of it.
“We’ve worked so hard. We all get on so well and we deserve this. We were unlucky to concede in the last minute but we stepped up in the shootout and we got our chests out when it mattered.
“It’s another stepping stone. We’re ticking things off. The group stage was great, we’ve won a knockout game, the penalty shootout makes things better.”
Victory sees England book a quarter-final tie against Sweden at the Samara Arena on Saturday afternoon and Kane claimed that his side are now in a great position.
He added: “There’s still a long way to go in this tournament but this will give us huge belief and will make us even tighter as a group.
“You have to believe in anything you do to try and reach the top. There’s a long way to go but our belief is growing. We’ll have another tough game at the weekend but this puts us in a great position.”