England has had their fair share of troubles at the FIFA World Cup™ in recent years. 

Their last knockout stage victory came 12 years ago when legend David Beckham scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Ecuador in the Round of 16 at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. They would go on to lose to Portugal on penalties in the quarter-final round and they haven't had much success since. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa they were routed by the Germans 4-1 in the Round of 16 and went winless in the group stage four years ago in Brazil. 

Not many people were giving England much of a chance to succeed at this year's World Cup, but after a couple of impressive wins against Tunisia and Panama in the group stage, England fans have a new sense of optimism heading into their Round of 16 matchup against Colombia Tuesday afternoon. 

You can watch all the action Tuesday at 2pm ET/11am PT on TSN 1/4/5 and streaming on TSN.ca or listen on TSN Radio. You don't have to wait until the afternoon to get your World Cup fix as the day kicks off at 9am ET/6am PT with a clash between Sweden and Switzerland in another Round of 16 matchup. You can watch that game on TSN 1/4/5 and streaming on TSN.ca or listen on TSN Radio.

TSN soccer analyst Kristian Jack says that new sense of optimism has England believing they can beat a strong Colombian side, but the lack of past success in the knockout stage is always a worry for this soccer nation. 

“The expectations were low with no pressure on them at all. ‘Go and enjoy the World Cup lads. See what you can do and come back and in four years it’s going to be better.’ That was a little bit of the summary of the impressions of the English nation," said Jack. "Well now they think they can beat Colombia. They look at those teams on that side and they think they can go and beat them so now the opportunity has presented itself. But this is a nation that’s won two knockout games since 1990 so get past one and we’ll start talking about the others.”   

Furthermore, it seems England has a path to the final that avoids any of the major contenders. If they can get past Colombia, they'll play the winners of Sweden and Switzerland in the quarters followed by (assuming they win) a clash against either host Russia or Croatia in the semi-final. TSN soccer analyst Steven Caldwell says people might be getting a little carried away, but still thinks they can get the better of Colombia. 

“For me, optimism has changed just because that side of the draw. You don’t see any great giant there that England will really fear like a Brazil or even a France on the other side. So I think that’s why people are getting a little bit carried away. Let’s face it, it’s going to be a very difficult game against Colombia. They’re a good side," he said. "England are still inexperienced, all of the things we talked about before, but there’s optimism there because of the way that they're playing. The unity within the squad. I do think they can beat Colombia. I think if they do beat Colombia they're going to get great strength from that…it still doesn’t make them favourites.”

The Colombians could be without their best player in attacking midfielder James Rodriguez after he left their group stage finale against Senegal early with a calf injury.

England will count on captain Harry Kane to continue his terrific play. The 24-year-old leads the World Cup with five goals so far in the tournament.