Jose Pekerman Hits Out Over the Behaviour of England's Players After Colombia's Defeat in Last 16

Colombia manager Jose Pekerman expressed his anger towards the behaviour of England's players after his side exited the World Cup following a 4-3 penalty shootout defeat in the last 16, with the game level at 1-1 after extra time.

In what was a fiery encounter inside the Otkrytie Arena, Harry Kane's 56th minute penalty, which was hotly contested by Colombia and led to ugly scenes prior to the spot kick, appeared to be sending the South American side home, until Yerry Mina popped up with a 93rd minute header to send the game into extra time.

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With the scores still level after 120 minutes, penalties were required to decide who would face Sweden in the quarter finals, as England banished their demons to win their first World Cup penalty shootout, although Pekerman was far from complementary of Gareth Southgate's side post-match.

As quoted by Sky Sports, he said: "Players fall in the box, they collide and fall. 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.

"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."

There were a number of flashpoints throughout the game, with Colombia's Wilmar Barrios fortunate to only see yellow in the first half after throwing his head towards Jordan Henderson, while there were unsavoury moments after the award of England's penalty, including Johan Mojica's attempt to scuff the spot prior to Kane's spot kick. 

Despite Colombia's achievement of reaching the knockout stages of a World Cup for a second consecutive tournament for the first time, Pekerman still wasn't finished with his angry summary of England's supposed antics. 

He continued, stating: "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."