Jude Bellingham salvaged England's Euro 2024 hopes before Harry Kane's extra-time finish proved the difference in a 2-1 comeback victory over Slovakia in Sunday's last-16 clash.
Gareth Southgate's team appeared to be heading for an early exit in Gelsenkirchen after Ivan Schranz opened the scoring midway through the first half with his third goal of the Euros.
Phil Foden saw an equaliser disallowed soon after the interval and Declan Rice was denied by the post late on, only for Bellingham to deliver a heroic overhead-kick equaliser five minutes into stoppage time.
Kane then headed home from point-blank range just 50 seconds into extra time for the fastest such goal in Euros history, stealing victory from the jaws of defeat to tee up a last-eight meeting with Switzerland.
England suffered an early blow as Marc Guehi's third-minute caution saw him ruled out of the last-eight clash through suspension, while Slovakia twice went close in the early stages.
David Hancko drove narrowly wide before England were nearly caught out again when Lukas Haraslin's deflected effort almost slipped past Jordan Pickford.
A lacklustre England defence was finally punished after 25 minutes as David Strelec rolled through for Schranz to brush off Guehi before poking into the bottom-left corner.
England thought they had levelled just minutes after the interval, only for Foden to be ruled offside from Kieran Trippier's selfless cross before a routine tap-in.
The Three Lions survived a scare soon after as John Stones switched off from a short free-kick, with Strelec almost lobbing Pickford from the centre-circle.
Cole Palmer was eventually introduced after 66 minutes, with the ineffective Bukayo Saka moved to left-back, but that change did little to alter England's fortunes.
Kane headed wide a glorious opportunity from Foden's free-kick, while Rice cannoned a driving effort against the woodwork from range – but England would be saved by Bellingham.
Kyle Walker's long throw-in was nudged on by Guehi before Bellingham wrong-footed Martin Dubravka with an astonishing overhead finish from the penalty spot, keeping England alive in the dying seconds.
That joy turned to further jubilation moments into the additional 30 minutes as Eberechi Eze's scuffed volley found Ivan Toney, who flicked into the path of Kane to head past Dubravka from point-blank range.
Peter Pekarik should have levelled after 105 minutes but somehow lifted over from the back post as England scraped into the quarter-finals following a thriller at Arena AufSchalke.
England still alive, barely
Kane (79) overtook Peter Shilton (78) as the player with the most ever competitive appearances for England, but a landmark outing appeared set to turn sour.
England had won five of six previous meetings with Slovakia but, as was the case against Iceland in 2016, the Three Lions were somewhat toothless against what FIFA's world rankings would perceive to be a lesser side.
Yet unlike against Iceland, England had a new hero in Bellingham as his goal, timed at 94 minutes and 34 seconds, marked the latest goal for his country in Euros history.
That paved the way for a familiar face to wrap up a remarkable turnaround as Kane scored his 14th goal in major tournaments – only four European players have ever managed more.
Cristiano Ronaldo (22), Miroslav Klose (19), Gerd Muller (18) and Jurgen Klinsmann (16) are the quartet to achieve the feat, and Kane will hope to catch the latter when England meet Switzerland next time out.
Super Schranz heroics in vain
Schranz has scored three goals in four games for Slovakia at Euro 2024, as many as he had netted in 22 games for his country coming into the tournament (three).
The forward is now the joint-top scorer at this tournament, while only Robert Vittek at the 2010 World Cup (four) has ever scored more goals for Slovakia at a major tournament.
Yet Schranz's heroics for Matjaz Kek's side ultimately proved in vain as Slovakia were finally undone by late England pressure, with Southgate's side equalising from their first shot on target.
Though this battling performance will deservedly bring plaudits, Slovakia have now lost six of seven meetings with England and are heading home from Euro 2024.
Trust the process, says Pickford after penalty shootout heroics for England
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford preached "trust the process" after his penalty shootout heroics against Switzerland.
Pickford got down low to keep out Switzerland's first spot-kick, denying Manuel Akanji.
While the 30-year-old could not prevent the Swiss scoring from their next three attempts, England stayed perfect through the shootout, with Trent Alexander-Arnold holding his nerve to send Gareth Southgate's team into the Euro 2024 semi-finals.
Pickford has now saved four of the 14 penalties he has faced in shootouts at major tournaments, twice as many as all other England goalkeepers combined saved between 1990 and 2012 (two out of 36).
Images shared widely on social media showed Pickford's water bottle had a list of each of Switzerland's penalty takers, and a direction in which he should dive.
And the Everton shot-stopper explained how he had to adapt his routine slightly in Dusseldorf, though he still trusted his process regardless.
He told ITV Sport: "The referee didn't let me do my usual process so I've had to adapt. I like to give the lads the ball, it helps me with a bit of focus, and staying calm, but I could only do it on the first one – luckily I saved it!
"I trust my process, what I do, with my mentality, that I'm going to save at least one for the lads.
"But massive respect to the lads that stood up and took one and to score in the way they did – huge credit.
Two lads making their major tournament debuts in this tournament, and then Bukayo [Saka] coming off the back of 2021 and stepping up – it shows the character in our squad.
"We've got a quick turnaround but we're still here, and that's what we want and what the nation wants."
For just the second time in their 10th shootout at a major tournament, England scored every single one of their penalties in the shootout (5/5), also doing so against Spain at Euro 1996 (4/4).
Penalty shootout victory over Brazil was winning in Uruguayan style, says Bielsa
Uruguay showed their character and the national team's "style" in their penalty shootout win over Brazil, so says Marcelo Bielsa.
Fifteen-time Copa America champions Uruguay progressed to the semi-finals at Brazil's expense with a 4-2 victory in the shootout after a 0-0 draw in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Uruguay, who have quickly adapted to Bielsa's full-throttle attacking approach, had to play out the last 20 minutes with 10 men after Nahitan Nandez was sent off for a lunge on Rodrygo.
It meant the usual offensive tactics had to make way for defensive ones, though from Nandez's red card onwards, Uruguay limited Brazil to just two attempts.
"Everything that happens, happens Uruguayan style, because the players are the ones that give their all to the team," Bielsa said.
"It was a match with very little goal opportunities, highly contested, very close, even with very little changes in possession.
"When we were one man down, we decided to dedicate ourselves to defending in our half.
"So holding on to that result as the Uruguayan team did shows the profile of Uruguayan football.
"They were very calm in the penalty shootout that demands not only accuracy but also character."
Uruguay have now kept three successive clean sheets, while they limited Brazil to 0.58 expected goals (xG), and their defensive resilience has pleased Bielsa.
"I am a bit more drawn to the offensive than the defensive game, but in a match that was as tight as this one, we created one more opportunity than our opponent and we defended well," Bielsa added.
"I do think that defensively, not because I achieved it but because the players are inherently good at defending, that they are very good at keeping a clean sheet."
This is the first time Uruguay have reached the semi-finals of the Copa America since the last time they won the trophy in 2011.
La Celeste had endured three consecutive quarter-final appearances without advancing, with two of those being decided by penalties (2019 and 2021).
Uruguay will face in-form Colombia, who hammered Paraguay 5-0, in the last four.
Dorival Junior urges patience with Brazil's rebuild after Copa America exit
Dorival Junior has asked for time to complete his revamp of the Brazil national team after the Selecao's Copa America exit.
Brazil, nine-time Copa America champions, lost 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw with 10-man Uruguay in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Eder Militao and Douglas Luiz were unsuccessful from 12 yards, as a disappointing and often disjointed campaign for Brazil, who were without the suspended Vinicius Junior, came to a halt.
Dorival left out some big names for the tournament, while Neymar was absent through injury, and the coach, who was appointed in January, has reiterated the rebuild will require some patience.
He said: "We are undergoing a very important renovation or reinvention of this team.
"I have only coached this team for eight matches and this is a process that we have to go through.
"We are aware of the difficulties we will come across throughout the path, but we now lost a match in the knockouts and that wasn't what we expected."
Brazil are sixth in the South American qualification standings for the 2026 World Cup, and Dorival knows the Selecao must sharpen up.
"We have a lot of room to continue growing, evolving, improving and our main objective now is to qualify for the World Cup," he continued.
"Right now we are sixth in the standings, we are not comfortable with that."
Dorival did, however, point to Uruguay's rise back to form under Marcelo Bielsa as evidence that long-term projects can come to fruition.
"I think the Uruguayan national team has a pattern, a very well-defined pattern," he said.
"They have been working for a long time together. They had some problems at first, they corrected them.
"Now they are finding great results. I think we will achieve all that as well, not a doubt about it, but we need some time to make such corrections.
"We had some issues at the beginning of the tournament. I think we corrected plenty of mistakes.
"It is tough given the period of time that we had to work to try to speed up the process. I think we'll have some more time in the future."
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