England have qualified for the last 16 of the 2018 World Cup after a thumping 6-1 win over Panama.
However, Gareth Southgate’s men will ultimately be judged by their performance in the later stages of the competition. And England’s senior men’s team have not won a knockout match at a major finals since beating Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup.
Here, Press Association Sport looks at the dismal failures the team have endured since.
2006 – England pay the penalty against Portugal
History repeated itself in Gelsenkirchen in a match best remembered for Wayne Rooney’s red card and Cristiano Ronaldo winking to the Portuguese bench after he had alerted the referee to his Manchester United team-mate’s stamp on Ricardo Carvalho.
A goalless 120 minutes meant another shoot-out for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s team, and missed spot-kicks from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher allowed Ronaldo to apply the killer blow to England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’.
2010 – Battered and bruised in Bloemfontein
They were denied an equaliser just before half-time when Lampard’s effort clearly crossed the line – prompting FIFA to finally see the light on goal-line technology – but in truth Germany tore England apart and were worthy 4-1 winners.
2012 – More penalty pain
Supporters were fearing the worst when the match went to penalties, and sure enough England’s abysmal record in shoot-outs continued as Ashley Young struck the bar and Ashley Cole’s kick was saved by Gianluigi Buffon.
2016 – England freeze against Iceland
The night got off to a perfect start when Raheem Sterling was brought down in the box and Rooney put England ahead with a fourth-minute penalty. But it all fell apart in spectacular fashion two minutes later as one of Aron Gunnarsson’s trademark long throws caused chaos in the England defence and Ragnar Sigurdsson got on the end of it to score.
Kolbeinn Sigthorsson put Iceland ahead in the 18th minute after England’s defenders stood off him, with Joe Hart also culpable for failing to make a routine save. There was still plenty of time for England to respond, but the players looked devoid of ideas and paralysed by fear. Hodgson resigned immediately afterwards.
