Gareth Southgate has labelled the World Cup clash against Colombia as England’s most important match in the last 10 years.
The Three Lions will take on Jose Pekerman’s side in the last 16 on Tuesday night after finishing second in Group G following a 1-0 defeat by table-toppers Belgium.
Adnan Januzaj, formerly of Manchester United and Sunderland, curled home the only goal on 51 minutes.
England have not won a knockout match at a major tournament since 2006.
“This was a game we wanted to win but the knockout game is the biggest game for a decade for us,” said Southgate, who made eight changes for the match against the Red Devils.
“We want to win football matches so of course we’re not happy to come away from here having been beaten.
“The players that played tonight have given absolutely everything, they never stopped.
“It was a pretty even game. I thought they had some better-controlled possession than us at times. They had the better chances in the first half, we had a couple of really good ones in the second.
“We created the openings to get something from the game.”
England opened their Russia 2018 campaign with a last-gasp 2-1 win over Tunisia and followed that up with a record-breaking 6-1 demolition of Panama.
Captain Harry Kane is top scorer at the tournament with five goals.
Looking ahead to the knockout stages, Southgate added: “Everybody has seen the level we’ve been playing at, we’ve seen the level of some of the best [teams] and we’ve got to keep improving.”
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