Croatia and England punched their tickets to the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup after successful stints in the quarterfinals. Only one of them will advance to the championship game, however. Which side will it be? Read on for a series of this match below.
The Chequered Ones survived a wild match against Russia on Saturday, as they pulled off win via a 4-3 penalty shootout. It wasn’t the smoothest of victories but the Croatans will take a win in any other way. That being said, they have to be finer the next time around against England. The Russians had too many chances at the goal, putting seven attempts on target compared to just three by Croatia. Andrej Kramaric and Domagoj Vida scored both of Croatia’s goal in regulation, but the men to watch for the team are still the exquisite pair of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, who’ve been giving Croatian opponents massive headaches with their ability to control the midfield and create golden scoring opportunities for their teammates. Modric’s cunning ways and Rakitic’s speed are driving this team’s success.
Betting on England (+122 to win)
The Three Lions believe that “It’s coming home.” There are a ton of work left for them to accomplish the goal, however, as standing in their way are the peaking Croatians. England booked a ticket to the semifinals after dominant 2-0 win over Sweden in the quarterfinals. Harry Maguire and Dele Alli supplied all both goals for England, who could really get some other players going with Harry Kane probably a bit fatigued at this point of the tournament. Kane lead all players in Russia with six goals. England supporters would also probably find it encouraging that their team already has 11 goals in this edition of the World Cup, tying the Three Lions’ total in 1966, the last time they won the World Cup. Goalie Jordan Pickford’s performance against Sweden shouldn’t also be overlooked, as he was superb between the sticks turning away a number of shots on target by the Swedes, especially in the second half, to help England secure their first clean sheet in Russia.
