England Play Croatia in Semi-Finals

In the second day of the quarter-finals ENGLAND had to play Sweden for a place in the semi-finals. England have done very well to get where they are and this was not going to be an easy game. In the first half the pace of the game was very slow but England dominated the pitch and had a couple of chances to go in the lead early in the game. It was not till the 30^th minute from a corner that England’s Maguire scored to put England in front. With his very first goal for England. That is how it finished in the first half with good flowing football from England.

Sweden came out in the second half a different team as they started to put on the pressure but the English defence and goalkeeper Pickford, kept them at bay. England sealed their victory after 58^th minutes when Alli headed in Lingard's cross at the far post to go 2-0 up. Sweden tried to put some passes together but they were quickly taken care of. Sweden did have a few chances in the game but England looked very much the better team. England are through to the Semi-finals for the first time since 1990. They then lost 4-3 on penalties to then West Germany. England are now on a total of 11 goals, which is the highest they have very scored in the World Cup since 1990.

In the other game the home nation RUSSIA with 4 votes played Croatia. Russia beat Spain on penalties in the second round after they drew 1-1 after extra time. The game started off at a very fast pace as both teams now know who they will be playing in the semi-finals.  It took just over half an hour of play before Russia finally scored a brilliant goal by Cheryshev in the 31^st minute with his fourth goal of the tournament. Croatia then came under a barrage of Russian attacks but eight minutes later they equalised with a goal by Kramaric. That’s how it remained at the end of the first half. In the second half, the game started as it finished in the first half at a great speed. Half-way through the second half, Croatia hit the post but the score remained 1-1 and extra time beckoned. Croatia scored in the first half of extra time by Vida in the 100^th minute to go 2-1 up but both sides were then getting tired. The game did not finish there as Russia scored in the 115^th minute in the second half of extra time by F. Fernandes to equalise 2-2. The drama did not stop there as both sides exhausted then went in to penalties in which Croatia win 4-3. England will play Croatia on 11^th July. The host nation Russia, go out with a total of 11 goals which is their best score in our World Cup. Their previous highest score was in 1994 USA with 7 goals.

Our Top Golden Goals World Cup Nations are

BELGIUM (14) ENGLAND (11) RUSSIA (11) FRANCE (9) Total of 45 goals.

Top goal scorers of the 2018 Russia World Cup to date are

• Harry Kane, England, 6 goals
• Denis Cheryshev, Russia, 4 goals
• Romelu Lukaku, Belgium, 4 goals
• Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal, 4 goals
• Edinson Cavani Uruguay 3 goals
• Diego Costa, Spain, 3 goals
• Artem Dzyuba, Russia, 3 goals
• Antoine Griezmann, France, 3 goals
• Kylian Mbappe, France, 3 goals
• Yerry Mina, Columbia, 3 goals

The Semi-Finals are

FRANCE v BELGIUM to be played on 10th July

ENGLAND v Croatia to be played on 11th July