John Stones Hits Back at High Profile 'Cheating' Accusations After England's Win Over Colombia

England defender John Stones defended the England team after accusations of cheating were made by Jose Mourinho and Diego Maradona following England's win over Colombia. 

The Mirror report that Stones, 24, responded to claims that England used underhand tactics against Los Cafeteros in their penalty shootout win in the last 16 on Tuesday.

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The criticism came after England were awarded a penalty when Carlos Sanchez was adjudged to have fouled Harry Kane in the box from a corner, leaving the Colombians furious. 

But Stones insisted that the Three Lions were playing by the rules, saying: "I say it's clever. I think it is about having a great footballing brain and knowing when to do that without being called a cheat or diver.

"I don't think there is anyone in our team who would do that or want to do that.

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"Being clever and buying a smart foul is something that we've got as a team and it can help us through the tournament."

England's victory was made more difficult by the aggressive style of play from the Colombians, a fact that made the victory even sweeter for the Manchester City man. 

He said: "They are probably the dirtiest team I've ever come up against. I've never seen a game like this before and how they behaved. It was just so surprising to come across those things.

"I think the best thing for us was to beat them at football. We stuck to our game plan and never got into the brawl that they wanted. The biggest thing that will hurt them is going home."

With the victory, England advance to play Sweden in the quarter-finals which will be played in Samara on Saturday.