Argentine legend Diego Maradona is adamant England did not deserve to win their World Cup round 16 clash against Colombia.

England face Sweden in the quarterfinals after beating Colombia in a penalty shootout.

Maradona slammed American ref Mark Geiger on Wednesday: "I saw a monumental theft. I apologise to all the Colombian people, but they must know the players are not to blame.

"It is the man who decides who the referee is who is to blame. A man like that (Geiger) should not be put in charge of a game of that magnitude.

"With all due respect, Pierluigi Collina, as the man who designates the referees, he is very bad. He must apologise to the Colombian people."

The 57-year-old continued: "I told (FIFA president) Gianni Infantino that if I worked for FIFA I would change everything. It has to be transparent. That's why I didn't go there.

"The referee will know a lot about baseball, but he has no idea about football. The Colombian players asked for VAR and he did not give it to them.

"Twice the English threw themselves to the ground and he did not admonish them. This was theft."