England vs Croatia Preview

With no hype and not many egos to manage, England have stormed to the semifinal of this World Cup and there is a real sense that this group is destined to write their names into the book of history.

The English men started their campaign by beating Tunisia and Panama in their opening two group games.

They scored 8 times in those games and conceded just twice.

Their last group game was a dress rehearsal for the knockout stages and they lost an unimportant game 1-0 to Belgium.

England went on to beat Colombia in penalties in the round of 16 after extra time had ended 1-1.

Their quarterfinal game against Sweden ended in an impressive 2-0 win for the Three Lions and enhanced their reputation in this competition.

England have been improving with every game they play and they are now one of the favourites to win the tournamet alongside France and Belgium.

Croatia have won all of their matches before this semifinal and they will be looking to go all the way unbeaten.

They started with a 2-0 win over Nigeria before beating Argentina 3-0 in their next group game.

Croatia went on to beat Iceland 2-1 in their final group game to setup a round of 16 tie against Denmark.

They beat the Danes on penalties and faced Russia next.

The Russians took the lead but Andrej Kramaric equalized for Croatia before one more goal from each team in extra time meant penalties were needed to separate them following a 2-2 draw.

Croatia won the shootout with Ivan Rakitic their hero again.

Croatia will know that England are a tougher opponent than those they have faced before and this game has the making of a thriller.

Bookmakers believe England will progress to the final however the odds are close and Croatia will have their supporters with their extremely talented midfield.

Possible starting lineups:

England

Croatia

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

England

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
W	Russia		2-2		Croatia	7 Jul, 2018	FIFA World Cup
W	Croatia		1-1		Denmark	1 Jul, 2018	FIFA World Cup
W	Iceland		1-2		Croatia	26 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
W	Argentina		0-3		Croatia	21 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
W	Croatia		2-0		Nigeria	16 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup

Croatia

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
W	Sweden		0-2		England	7 Jul, 2018	FIFA World Cup
W	Colombia		1-1		England	3 Jul, 2018	FIFA World Cup
L	England		0-1		Belgium	28 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
W	England		6-1		Panama	24 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup
W	Tunisia		1-2		England	18 Jun, 2018	FIFA World Cup

H2H