Thursday 5 July 2018 09:01, UK
England progressed to the World Cup quarter-finals by beating Colombia on penalties on Tuesday night, but who were the standout performers in Moscow? The World Cup Supplement panel deliver their verdicts.
Gareth Southgate's side beat the South Americans 4-3 on penalties on Tuesday night after the tie ended 1-1 after extra time.
Stones was absolutely terrific, he was composed and looked magnificent
Captain Harry Kane was England's goalscoring hero at the Otkritie Arena with a second-half penalty to give his team a second-half lead, before goalkeeper Jordan Pickford's heroics in the shootout saw the England qualify for their first last-eight tie since 2006.
After the full-time whistle, The Sunday Times' chief football writer Jonathan Northcroft and his counterpart from the Mirror, John Cross, both offered their views on who were England's most impressive players on the night.
"I would go immediately for John Stones," said Cross. "I thought he was absolutely terrific, he was composed and at one moment, he had a 100 per cent pass completion rate. He looked absolutely magnificent.
"He brought the ball out and always enabled England to keep possession and go again.
"I thought Raheem Sterling had a really good first half, as bright as anyone on the pitch, making things happen, turning and really trying to get beyond people and get the ball into the danger area. I thought he was really good.
"I just though Kieran Trippier was terrific in the first half, his distribution was great and delivery was terrific and he was arguably England's best player. And then, of course, he capped it all with an amazing penalty.
"And bearing in mind he is still a rookie at this level in relative terms the confidence he has shown to do that is remarkable."
"I think you have to look at Jordan Pickford, just for those two moments - the save just before the corner from which Colombia scored from was incredible," said Northcroft.
"And had they not scored from that corner, that save would be getting cherished as one of the great England goalkeeping moments because it would have saved England from an equaliser.
"But then that penalty save, my goodness. Watching David de Gea during the Spain penalty shootout, the world's best 'keeper, getting nowhere near those Russian penalties.
"A complete mind blank in my mind and that is one of the best 'keepers in terms of reflexes we have ever seen and yet he was guessing and diving from 12 yards.
"Whereas Pickford had the reflexes to dive and the ball was not going where he needed it to be and yet he threw up this strong hand and makes this incredible save. So I thought that was great.
"Ashley Young did not give an amazing footballing performance, but I thought that in a match with a lot of gamesmanship, England needed his old head and nastiness at times and I thought that helped them.
"You can't look past Harry Kane as well having been the guy to yet again step up with a huge pressure moment with that penalty and then another pressure moment in the shootout.
"But it was not just that, I thought we saw a different Harry Kane tonight, he dropped deep and held the ball up when he had to, had to play in a different position when Jamie Vardy came on, won so many free-kicks, stood up to a lot of the bullying that Colombia were trying to do.
"The guy is a real leader and is going to have such an incredible England career when it is finished and he is already level with Gary Lineker from '86 with six World Cup goals."
