Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, the three players who missed England's penalties on Sunday, were the victims of a stream of abuse on Twitter and on their Instagram accounts.
Roberto Mancini's men recovered from the shock of conceding the quickest goal ever in a European Championship final to equalise and held their nerve to claim a 3-2 shootout victory after a 1-1 draw following extra-time.
Gareth Southgate's men will face Italy on Sunday -- again on home turf and roared on by a nation at fever pitch -- infused with belief they can make history by winning the Euros for the first time.
The much-travelled Crouch, who spent the second half of last season at Burnley, made his English league debut in 2000 at QPR and also played for Liverpool, Tottenham and Stoke.
Raheem Sterling opened the scoring from Jadon Sancho’s cross in the 23rd minute and Harry Kane’s penalty put England in complete control on the stroke of halftime.
Just over a year ago, England's qualification for the World Cup was greeted with yawns and a barrage of paper aeroplanes from fans disillusioned by decades of underachievement.
Rooney, a record goal scorer for both Manchester United and England, has not played international football for nearly two years.
Eric Dier and Harry Kane headed against the woodwork for the visitors while Marcus Rashford spurned two clear opportunities as England missed out on a first win.
With the final and third-place playoff to come, England’s Harry Kane is in pole position on six goals, ahead of Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku.
A presentation of the 2018 World Cup semifinal match between Croatia and England.
England’s last appearance at this stage was in 1990 when they lost in a penalty shootout to West Germany in Turin.
Colombian coach Jose Pekerman said football needed to be ‘protected’ after suggesting English players had faked fouls.
Maradona, notorious in England for his famous ‘Hand of God’ goal at the 1986 tournament, said the American official should have penalised Harry Kane.
The 36-year-old royal - who is the president of the Football Association - has praised the squad for their victory in the tense game after they managed to squeeze through to the next round of the competition.
If England get past Sweden they face a potential semi-final against hosts Russia or Croatia for their first appearance in a final since winning the World Cup for the only time in 1966.
Memories of clashes between Russian and England supporters at the 2016 European Championship in France had also led many to expect the same from this year’s World Cup.
The result means Belgium, who won all three of their group games to finish on nine points, will face Japan in the last 16.
Lingard made it 3-0 in the 36th minute with a beautiful strike from just outside the area before Stones nodded in the fourth after a cleverly worked free-kick routine.
