England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford said "we knew we were capable of winning" on penalties as his shootout save boosted his side over Colombia and into the World Cup quarterfinals, ending their torturous history from the spot.
The Three Lions had been eliminated in all three of their previous shootout attempts at the World Cup, falling to West Germany in the 1990 semifinals, Argentina in the 1998 round of 16 and Portugal in the 2006 quarterfinals.
The result also improved England's penalties record to 2-6 in major tournaments, with their only previous escape coming in the European Championship quarterfinals in 1996, when they then went on to lose to Germany in another shootout in the next round.
But on Tuesday night they advanced 4-3 after Pickford denied Carlos Bacca in the fifth round -- Mateus Uribe having already struck the post -- and Eric Dier sent in the winner to give England a berth against Sweden in the last eight.
"I did all my research on them, for starters, so we had a fair idea," Pickford told ITV. "[Radamel] Falcao is the only one who didn't really go his way.
"I've got power and agility to help me get around the goal, I don't care if I'm not the biggest keeper because it's about being there in the moment and making the save and I was. It's all about the set position and I got a hand to it.
"Our mindset and mentality, we never stopped. We knew we had this game, even if it had to go to penalties, we knew we were capable of winning."
Asked about the decisive save to stop Bacca, the 24-year-old told BBC Radio: "I was in a massive whirlwind but I saved it with my left hand. I've been critcised for going with my top hand, but as long as you save it, that's all that counts. I might be young but I've got good mental strength and experience and I used that today.
"It's a great night to win a penalty shootout. Ideally we don't want to be going to a penalty shootout but we are delighted for the fans and the whole country. It gives us belief to go into the Sweden game and we will get straight back to business tomorrow."
Three Tottenham players -- Harry Kane, Kieran Trippier and Eric Dier -- were responsible for scoring past Arsenal's Ospina, along with Manchester United's Marcus Rashford.
All four of England's successful penalties went to the right of Colombia keep David Ospina, while Jordan Henderson opted to go the other way in the third round, only to see his attempt saved.
"It was a nervous one," Dier said. "I've never really been in a situation like that before but felt I had to score after missing the header at the end so I'm just thankful I scored.
"Jordan is a fantastic goalkeeper and deserves everything. His attitude is brilliant and he's been brilliant in training and taken it into the game.
"To get knocked down like we did is difficult to come back from it. We knew what we had to do and we stayed calm. We never panicked. We were ready for that."
YESSSSSSS! 🙌🏾🏴🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/zafkKmSeUk
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) July 3, 2018
Kane had put England ahead with a penalty in the 57th minute, and it appeared that would hold up until Yerry Mina headed in an equaliser following a corner in stoppage time.
And Kane, who also took England's first spot kick in the shootout, thought the end result was fair after his side had some so close to seeing off Colombia earlier.
"We are so unlucky not to go through in 90 minutes. No one laid on the floor and we stood there when it counted," Kane told the BBC. "It was a big night for England.
"It's a young team but we've grown up a lot on that pitch tonight. We know obviously in the past England haven't done great and it was great to get that one off our back.
"In the shootout we had to stand up and that's what we have done. We are through to the next round and that is the most important thing."
Kane also thought the result would serve England well going forward, saying: "It will give us huge belief. There's still a long way to go but this will give us more belief than ever and the fans back home. They are enjoying it and we are too."