Semi Finals Preview – Croatia
vs England
France has reached the Finals for the third time and
Belgium has been knocked out in semifinals for second time in their History. Today’s
match between Croatia and England will decide who will play against France and
Belgium accordingly. Croatia who had reached Semifinals in 1998 was defeated by
France while England reached semifinals last in 1990 just to be eliminated by
West Germany. After these instances both teams didn’t reach Semi’s till this
world cup. Let us first see how both teams performed in the Quarter finals on
the base level data.
Probable
Line up:
England:
3-1-4-2
Pickford, Walker – Stones – Maguire, Henderson, Trippier
– Young – Dele – Lingard, Sterling – Kane
Croatia:
4-2-3-1
Subasic, Vida - Lovren - Corluka - Strinic, Modric
– Brozovic, Rakitic -Rebic – Perisic. Mandzukic
Risk
of Suspension
Maguire (ENG),
Strinic (CRO), Vida (CRO), Lovren (CRO).
Firstly
Both Croatia and England so far had a good run in the tournament and on all
counts most pundits or fans didn’t expect both these teams here in semifinals. Going
into the game both teams have exceptional talent loaded and will lock horns to
gain supremacy. English Football stung by failures for decades did come up with
action plan which most people laughed off but to everyone’s surprise it has
paid rich dividends with England being Under 20 and Under 17 world cup winners
also this World cup they are in Semi Finals. So just two matches left to reach the
destination and If England lifts the cup it will be second team after Brazil to
Achieve the Feat. But about winning the cup or winning today’s game it purely
depends on the style they followed throughout the tournament of capitalizing
the errors and set pieces which gave them the advantage throughout. Kane vs
Lovren, Sterling vs Corluka, Modric vs Henderson, Rakitic vs Young are to be
seen live to decide the winner. England definitely has the advantage of being
able to win quarter finals with ease and not having any injury which is big
pros for England. So it is England’s game to lose given that they have the
advantage of physicality and mental toughness than Croatia.
Coming
to Croatian side, this side is one of the best creative and skillful sides in
the world cup. In every aspect the tradition of Eastern European football is
evident and we can see that on a given day Croatian side can steamroll on any
side. But with regards to the form that Croatian side possessed in the Group
stages and Knock out stages, I feel Croatia is underperforming in the knockout
stages. In both the matches Croatia took the game penalties to win the game and
in both the games Croatia was first to concede and this factor should worry
them a lot. In my opinion Croatian players are likely to be more tired and injuries
prone than English players considering they have played 120 minutes in both
knock out games and have travelled more than 1500 km since to reach Moscow (Nizhny
Novgorod to Sochi to Moscow). With news coming already that Subasic and Vrsaljko
are having injury scares it is very important for the team to give a spirited
performance. Overall with regards to Croatian side given the situation they are
in, if they can unleash the performance that they gave in Group stages today
then England is no match to them. If Croatia is prone on conceding set pieces
then it is going to be a nightmarish evening for Croatia.
Prediction: England has the Edge but Croatia can overturn
their disadvantage and gain.
--
VenkatS
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