Three Lions 4-1 to win the World Cup after reaching last eight

Eric Dier and Jordan Pickford became instant England heroes in Moscow last night as England won a World Cup penalty shootout for the first time, defeating Colombia 4-3 on spot-kicks after the match had finished 1-1 after extra-time.

The Three Lions have shortened to 4-1 to lift the trophy - making them joint-second favourites alongside France - and are just 7-4 to reach the final for the first time since 1966.

England had to come from behind in the shootout but were on the brink of victory after Pickford saved from Carlos Bacca.

Dier converted to hand England the victory they deserved - to the delight of their millions of fans and an army of punters who had backed them to continue in the tournament.

The Three Lions had been the better team for much of normal time and forged ahead when Harry Kane scored a 57th-minute penalty, piling on the misery for bookmakers, who took lots of bets on the Tottenham man to score the first goal.

England v Colombia match report

News: Sweden march on

But Colombia drew level deep into injury-time when Yerry Mina headed home from a corner.

Kane's goal was his sixth of the tournament - putting him two ahead of Romelu Lukaku in the race to be the top scorer.

He shortened from 5-4 to 1-3 to finish as the top marksman this summer.

England will take on Sweden in Samara on Saturday and could face Russia or Croatia in a Moscow semi-final next Wednesday.

If they continue to prosper, bookmakers fear a huge payout.

Coral spokesman David Stevens said: "Gareth Southgate's men will be favourites to win against Sweden and move step closer to a World Cup triumph that will spark the biggest ever payout to patriotic punters."

Southgate had billed the match as England's biggest in a decade and there was huge interest from punters.

Ladbrokes reported that the game had broken records in terms of the number of bets placed and confirmed that half of all bets featured Kane.

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