{"id":1169,"date":"2018-07-09T14:59:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T09:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/?p=1169"},"modified":"2018-07-09T15:01:48","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T09:31:48","slug":"world-cup-semi-final-france-belgium-england-croatia-chasing-world-cup-trophy-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/2018\/07\/09\/world-cup-semi-final-france-belgium-england-croatia-chasing-world-cup-trophy-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Semi-Final: France, Belgium, England, Croatia chasing World Cup trophy in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the second semi-final match of the FIFA World Cup, England tries to continue their incredible run so far in the competition as they face Croatia. While an in-form Belgium will look to continue their dream runs as The Red Devils want takes the Les Blues. We’ve reached the World Cup semifinals, and there’s a lot on the line for all four remaining teams. Belgium, Croatia, England and France are all two wins away from an elusive World Cup title. They’re two wins away from etching their names in the history books of the most popular sporting event in the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A look at the two semi-final ties with a showdown between Belgium and England for the World Cup on June 15 the predicted outcome<\/p>\n

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Wednesday, July 11<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Croatia v England, 10pm<\/strong><\/h2>\n

How they got there<\/strong>\u00a0Croatia after winning Group D with a 100 per cent record have had to grit their way through the knockout stages with penalty shoot-out wins over Denmark and hosts Russia.<\/p>\n

England also required spot-kicks to get past Colombia before they made comfortable work of Sweden in the quarter-finals as Harry Maguire and Dele Alli scored in a 2-0 triumph.<\/p>\n

Previous meetings<\/strong>\u00a0England won their only previous clash at a major tournament, at Euro 2004, with a 4-2 triumph where Wayne Rooney scored twice.<\/p>\n

Croatia did get some revenge for that by ensuring England failed to qualify for Euro 2008 in November 2007 with a 3-2 win at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n

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Prediction<\/strong>\u00a0A very tough one to call. Both sides have shown their ability to grind out results when not at their best and this will be a very tense evening in Moscow.<\/p>\n

Croatia have been pushed to the brink twice in penalties, and England may well be fresher due to getting their business done in the 90 minutes against Sweden.<\/p>\n

England vs Croatia head-to-head<\/h3>\n

S<\/span>even matches: England 4, Croatia 1, Draws 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I<\/span>n Croatia, England would be facing a side they know only too well. Luka Modric has only enhanced his already sky-high reputation as one of the world’s best midfielders, while Ivans Rakitic and Perisic either side of him are both terrific foils for the Real Madrid maestro.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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More than a classy midfield, however, England and Croatia carry history. It was that infamous November night at Wembley that etched Steve McClaren’s umbrella into English footballing folklore. Scott Carson fumbled Niko Kranjcar’s strike into his own net and England missed out on Euro 2008.<\/p>\n

Arguably worse had come a year earlier when a Gary Neville back-pass inexplicably bobbled over Paul Robinson’s right foot. Those two defeats – however harrowing – are the only two. In fact, England lead have won the most recent pair of fixtures by a combined score of 9-2. Theo Walcott scored a memorable hat-trick in Zagreb a decade ago.<\/p>\n

What is our prediction?<\/h3>\n

Expect both teams to battle throughout 90 minutes to try and get the victory. These squads have the opportunity to play in the final of the biggest international competition and it should easily be an interesting battle.<\/p>\n

England have the advantage on paper, but Croatia have proven in the competition that they can perform whether winning comfortably or in a tight match-up where the pendulum can swing easily in a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n

A close one to call but the momentum and confidence we give it to Croatia 2-1 win<\/p>\n

Our prediction:<\/strong>\u00a0England 1 Croatia 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tuesday July 10<\/strong><\/h2>\n

France v Belgium, 10pm<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Coach Didier Deschamps is blessed with depth. He also has the tournament\u2019s brightest star in Kylian Mbappe at his disposal.<\/p>\n

The PSG forward was electric against Uruguay, with many predicting his star will soon rise to the heights of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.<\/p>\n

In all their matches so far you\u2019ve got the sense that France still have more to give and this could be the game they prove their credentials.<\/p>\n

How they got there<\/strong><\/p>\n

FRANCE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

France made smooth work of beating Uruguay 2-0 in their quarter-final, with Raphael Varane and Antonie Griezmann the goalscorers.<\/p>\n

It was arguably France’s most impressive display at the World Cup. Defensively sound while causing one of the best organised sides in the tournament real problems.<\/p>\n

BELGIUM:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a star-studded Belgium side and, under Roberto Martinez and Thierry Henry, they\u2019ve become a formidable attacking threat.<\/p>\n

Romelu Lukaku already has four goals, while Belgium is the highest-scoring team at the World Cup with 14 goals.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve grown in confidence as the tournament has progressed and their win over Brazil, that some considered an upset, surely has them believing.<\/p>\n

But their only other semi-final appearance was in 1986 and, despite all their quality, Belgium have underachieved in recent years.<\/p>\n

Aside from the suspended Thomas Meunier, Martinez will be tempted to stick with the same team that beat Brazil.<\/p>\n

Belgium are the only side to have won every game they have played in Russia on their way to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

They were terrific in getting a two-goal lead against Brazil and then put in a mature second half display to hold off the fightback from their South American opponents.<\/p>\n

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Previous meetings<\/strong>\u00a0If history is anything to go by then there should be goals in this. France won 4-2 when the teams met in the group stages in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.<\/p>\n

The last time the sides met, in a friendly in June 2015, ended 4-3 to Belgium with Marouane Fellaini scoring twice.<\/p>\n

Prediction France have improved after a slow start in the group stages where they made hard work of Australia and Peru.<\/p>\n

Belgium have impressed against everyone they have played, and even when they did slip, going two down to Japan in the second round, they had the goal power to fight back and triumph.<\/p>\n

What is our prediction?<\/h3>\n

These are two exciting European sides with great futures ahead of them. At this stage the goal power of Belgium, they have scored 14 goals in five games, gives them the edge and they reach their first World Cup final with a 2-1 win over the French.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the second semi-final match of the FIFA World Cup, England tries to continue their incredible run so far in the competition as they face Croatia. While an in-form Belgium will look to continue their dream runs as The Red Devils want takes the Les Blues. We’ve reached the World Cup semifinals, and there’s a lot on the line for all four remaining teams. Belgium, Croatia, England and France are all two wins away from an elusive World Cup title. They’re two wins away from etching their names in the history books of the most popular sporting event in the world. A look at the two semi-final ties with a … Continue reading “World Cup Semi-Final: France, Belgium, England, Croatia chasing World Cup trophy in Russia”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":1170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[402,407,401,441,489],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}