World Cup preview: Sweden v Switzerland, Colombia v England

After a weekend that saw shootout drama, Russian jubilation, Spanish tears and some of the best football of the tournament, England’s first World Cup knockout game in eight years is finally upon us.

1500 BST Sweden v Switzerland (BBC)

1900 BST Colombia v England (ITV)

Before Southgate’s boys take to the turf however, Sweden take on Switzerland in a match that will decide the prospective quarter-final opponents for one of England or Colombia.

The Swedes come into the game off the back of an emphatic 3-0 victory over Mexico in their final group match and have only been beaten in the competition by Germany, courtesy of Toni Kroos' last minute wondergoal.

The Scandinavian side's leading World Cup goal-scorer and captain Andreas Granqvist has suggested he will play regardless of the fact that his wife is due to give birth on the same day as the match.

Switzerland meanwhile, are set to miss out on the services of defenders Fabian Schar and Stephan Lichtsteiner, who is also captain, as they serve on match bans for accumulated yellow cards.

The real problem for the Swiss may come at the other end of the pitch, however, where strikers Haris Seferovic and Mario Gavranovic have both failed to impress, leaving the side short of a convincing attacking focal point.

Wingers Xherdan Shaqiri and Breel Embolo have both been lively and impressive, and will be most likely to cause problems for the Swedish back line.

As England prepare to take on Colombia the nation’s media seems to have already lost their collective heads with routes to the final already being plotted by an army of overly-enthusiastic sports journalists.

The fact that Colombia are a very capable team who feature the likes of Radamel Falcao and Juan Cuadrado seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Good fortune may be on England’s side though as the South American side's talismanic midfielder James Rodriguez, who was top scorer in Brazil four years ago, could miss the game after being forced off with a calf problem against Senegal.

England’s injury situation is far more positive, with Dele Alli once again available for selection after missing the games against Panama and Belgium.

Furthermore, Southgate will likely recall all the players rested for the supremely dull 1-0 defeat to Belgium’s B-team that anti-climactically rounded off England’s group stage campaign.

With any luck we’ll see the likes of Harry Kane, Jesse Lingard and John Stones terrorising the Columbia defence at dinner time on Tuesday.