England’s players are under orders to belt out the national anthem as they bid to make the country proud by reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

Gareth Southgate’s team face Colombia in the last 16 on Tuesday night and the England manager has made it clear he expects his squad to sing their hearts out for the nation.

In the past, players have been allowed to make their own minds up over whether or not they joined in with the anthem. But it has been a feature of this tournament that every member of the squad has sung the anthem loud and proud.

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Ashley Young did not play for England for more than four years before being recalled by Southgate in 2017 and the 32-year-old has noticed in the difference in how the anthem is now approached by the players.

“When I came back into the squad, it was very important that everybody else knew the national anthem and sang their hearts out,” said Young.

“I think you see that. It is not just those playing, it starts on the bench and everyone is together. We link arms as well to show our togetherness – that is why we do it.”

England players have previously been criticised for not singing the national anthem. Wayne Rooney didn’t at the start of his international career and Gary Neville used to refuse to join in, preferring to “focus on the match” instead.

But Young added: “It is different to the past – that is something the manager has instilled into us and you can see that when the National Anthem is being sung.”

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England will lean heavily on their sense of togetherness as they seek to win a first knockout game since 2006, particularly if the  Colombia match goes to penalties.

Young is one of at least eight players to have told Southgate he is ready to take a penalty, despite missing in England’s last shoot-out exit. England were knocked out of Euro 2012 on penalties by Italy, with Young and Ashley Cole failing to convert.

Young went on to miss twice more in shoot-outs for Manchester United, in the same summer during pre-season against Barcelona and in a 2015 League Cup defeat by  Middlesbrough.

But Young insists he would not fear having to take another penalty and would, in no particular order, join Harry Kane, Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard, Kieran Trippier, Jamie Vardy and Marcus Rashford in stepping forward.

“Of course I will put my name forward,” said Young. “I have the confidence in my ability to step up and take one. I’ll definitely be one to put my hand up and take one. We’ve worked on them in practice and I have confidence in my ability to score more.”

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Southgate dismissed any suggestion that he could prevent Young, who will come back in for Danny Rose as left wing-back, from taking a penalty because of his poor shoot-out record.

“He’s a player with outstanding set-play delivery and technique,” said Southgate. “We’ve been through all the various drills to prepare.

“Once we get to that point, we know our ranking of player – not just with us, but over the years where players have taken more in matches than others.

“We are fully prepared, but there is a lot of football to be played in open play before that point. Should it come to that stage, we’re ready.”

Asked whether or not his misses have provoked him to change his penalty-taking style or look for ways to improve, Young said: “A penalty is a penalty to me. You step up and you try to score.

“I think when you work on it and you practice it in training, you know which way you’re going to go and you stick to it. If you change your mind at the last minute, that’s when things go wrong.

“There’s going to be a lot of football before it gets to penalties, so, hopefully, we’ll get the right results before that.”

Stuart Pearce famously celebrated wildly in front of the England fans when he avenged his 1990 World Cup miss against West Germany by scoring in the Euro 96 shoot-out success against Spain. Asked whether he would mimic former left-back Pearce, Young said: “I’d celebrate. But not like Stuart Pearce.”