The ‘underdog’ side of the 2018 World Cup knockout draw will come to a close tomorrow when Croatia face England.
The winner will face a David VS Goliath final with either France or Belgium, who play their semi final today.
England have qualified for the semifinals for the first time in 28 years. Despite a favourable draw in both the group and knockout stages, this is a huge achievement for Gareth Southgate’s men.
In previous years, England have crumbled under pressure with teams packed with star names. The 2018 iteration of England is a more humble group, but a stronger team.
England’s team play, hard work and preparation has been characterized by their success with set pieces. They have scored 8 goals from set pieces, more than any other team in this World Cup.
Their set piece potency is a worry for the Croatians, who have shown huge quality this year, albeit intermittently.
Croatia are well aware of the threat England pose from set pieces.
Quotes from RTE.ie
“We watched the game today and saw how good they are from dead-ball situations,” captain Luka Modric said.
“We will have to improve on our set-piece defending between now and Wednesday.”
England’s remarkable set-play success is the fruit of extra preparation on the training ground with attacking coach Allan Russell, who has travelled with Southgate to the United States to study strategies from the NBA and NFL.
“We’d been spending a lot of time on set pieces, right down to the details, all the runs and the blocks,” said midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Captain and top scorer Harry Kane added: “Allan does finishing sessions with us, tells us about opposition defenders, goalkeepers, and tells us maybe where we can exploit a weakness. It’s just little stuff to maybe give us an edge.”
Paddy Power has Croatia as favorites at 5/2 to win. However, England would be the smarter bet. Croatia will be fatigued after completing extra time and penalties against both Denmark and Russia.
England’s matter-of-fact 2-0 win over Sweden in the quarter final surprised even their own fans. The result set them up well to be fresh for the semi final against Croatia.
