World Cup 2018: Radamel Falcao and Colombia will ask a new question: can England defend?

England’s back three are yet to be fully tested, not by proper opposition, with dangerous players, who can keep the ball and push and probe and pounce when they see an opening

The last time John Stones came up against Radamel Falcao was in the Champions League 16 months ago, and it could not have gone much worse for him.

Twice Falcao got away from Stones to score away goals that were the eventual undoing of Manchester City. First ghosting away from him in the box to head in a Fabinho cross at the post. Then, beating Stones to a ball that should have been his, Falcao held off the defender, spun inside him, put him on his behind and then chipped Willy Caballero.

It was one of those nights that Stones’ sceptics always pick up on to point to the fact that for all his obvious gifts with the ball at his feet, he is not always the man you want to go one v one against the best strikers in the world.

But that is exactly what Stones is going to have to do in Moscow on Tuesday night. Up against Falcao again, with a place in the World Cup quarter-final on the line. And that battle will be central in telling us something we still don’t really know: can England defend?

Because as well as the group stage went going forward – two wins and eight goals before the Belgium non-event – England were never fully tested at the back. Not by proper opposition, with dangerous players, who can keep the ball and push and probe and pounce when they see an opening. Tuesday will be a whole new test.

When England have had to defend so far, it has not gone exactly according to Gareth Southgate’s plan. They conceded from practically the first attack they faced all tournament, half-way through the first half of their opening game in Volgograd. Kyle Walker lost his bearings in the box when a Tunisian cross came in. He swung out an arm, brought down Fakhreddine Ben Youssef, and Tunisia were level from the penalty spot. Rio Ferdinand said that it was “criminal” for a centre-back – which is where Walker has been playing – to be facing his own goal when a cross comes in.

Would a specialist centre-back have made that mistake? We will never know. England have taken a risk with their back three this tournament, Walker, Stones and Harry Maguire, three players who had never started together as a back three before the Tunisia game. The management believe that Walker’s role with City, tucking in rather than bombing on, means he should adjust well. He has his great friend Stones alongside him to talk him through his positioning. But can that be a shortcut to years of accumulated experience?

Kyle Walker has had to adjust to his back-three role (Getty)

Even against Panama in Nizhny Novgorod, a game more one-sided than you would ever want to see in a World Cup, the English defence was not immaculate. Before the goals started to flow England were put under pressure at the back a few times when they tried to play out from the back. Southgate admitted afterwards that he “didn’t particularly like” the first 10 minutes, when England’s play was “a little bit edgy”. And even when England were 6-0 up they still found a way to concede, letting Felipe Baloy free to turn in a free-kick later on.

Against Belgium Southgate had the opportunity to give Walker, Stones and Maguire more time together. But he chose to rotate, protecting Walker who had been booked against Tunisia. With Stones flanked by Phil Jones and Gary Cahill in the first half, then replaced by Maguire at half-time, there was little chance to learn more about how England will cope with an elite attack.

That is what they will face in Moscow on Tuesday. Colombia proved that when they destroyed Poland 3-0 in their second group game. Falcao scored from one brilliant finish but behind him they have Juan Cuadrado, Juan Quintero and James Rodriguez.

James is the best of those three but he is not fully fit, limping out of the Senegal game in the first half, left hoping that his calf injury is not a full strain. If he is out then it will be an easier evening for England, but he if he plays they will have to watch for the man whose curled pass round to Cuadrado for the third goal against Japan was one of the moments of the tournament.

That is the standard England are facing and when it comes to this sort of game, they have no successful history to fall back on. England, as Southgate often points out, have not won a knockout game at a tournament since 2006, when they beat Ecuador 1-0. Go back to the last 16 of 2002 and they beat Denmark 3-0. But these wins are desperately rare. Especially against serious opposition. Especially away from Wembley.

Facing Colombia in Moscow is almost as far from England’s comfort zone as they can get. Whatever they have done so far, they will have to prove it all over again on Tuesday night. Especially the biggest question of all, when Colombia are facing forward and this patched-together back three has to find a way to stop them.