SF: July 11 Croatia vs England [R]

2-0 England .

Kane and Lingard .

 

Going to be a ripper. I wonder if all the extra minutes Croatia have had to play will make a difference now that we're deep into the tournament.

Croatia has the stronger midfield, about even in attack, so it will come down to the defence that will separate the two on Thursday.

 

Absolute rubbish .

 

Lol agreed. Equal in attack is quite silly, England have Kane and Sterling up front, no Croatian forward can compare to either of those two. Croatia playing two straight games going to penalties with Modric being what 33 almost? I think fatigue shows and England wins this game.

 

Croatia matches up well with 3 lions. Their midfield should be in full control , their physicality and height will negate English reliance on set pieces.

Croatia 2-0 England.

 

you're talking bollocks mate.

Mandzucic? he is much better than Sterling.

 

England will take it, Croatia is coming from two penalty shootouts that will weight them down mentally and physically.

Also I do believe that their defense is a bit shaky during the set pieces, something that Kane, Stones and co will exploit to the fullest.


I'd say 3-1 for the English, 1-1 after 90 minutes and then Vardy getting two goals against the tired Croatian defense.

 

Croatia 0 England 3(Kane x 2, Sterling).

Croatia will be very tired after two penalty shootouts in a row whilst England will be very fresh after a straightforward victory.

I can’t see how Croatia will be able to cope with the energy and intensity of England. Lingard, Alli, Henderson and Sterling will suffocate Rakitic and Modric in the midfield and Croatia don’t have the front players to really hurt England.

England’s also got better players to come off the bench to change the game like Rashford, Loftus-Cheek and Vardy.

 

It will be closer than that. It has to be. I can’t take all the "it’s coming home" stuff anymore.

 

Croatia won't know how to cope with this England side.

 

English fans are ultra optimistic.
It seems england has already won.
At dailymail they already lift the cup.
Just wondering what happens if they blow it.

 

It's not all their fans, as we have many here and elsewhere that are down to earth, but man what I have had to listen to from others is too much. It's validated to be excited, but you'd think fans from a nation that has had so little success in these tourneys would tone it down some. It's been since 1966 no?

 

People said the same about Sweden.

 

Why make stuff up? Why you trying to rationalise the fact you just don't like the English NT?

I don't like the dailymail, but where have the dailymail already lifted the cup?

Here are the most recent articles on the game against Croatia.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...Kane-improving-Croatia-finish-semi-final.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-dazzling-red-fare-white-against-Croatia.html

Here's the sports home page

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/index.html

A couple of articles I can see talking about Sterling and Maguire.

 

My wife is English. She and my son are in England now relaying a lot of info. I can assure you that many English fans believe the hype right now. They are what I call the Beckham contingent (ie. fans who are convinced Beckham was better than he actually was). They will inflate and over-value all English players. There are also some very fatalistic English fans. They believe there is doom around every corner and they are wondering when their dreams will be crushed.

I'm probably in the middle. They don't have a ton of quality, but they have been very shrewd and smart. I admire their heart and organization. I'm still not totally convinced. It's hard to be when you've had Panama, Tunisia, Colombia without James R., and Sweden. Now they get a beat up Croatia team. But, as they say, you can only play the teams put in front of you.

 

I would say our attack is superior..their forwards are of a low quality..the only area they excel over us is midfield..other area we are stronger

 

Haa mandzucic is barely able to walk..he is about as mobile as a lamppost..hes a passenger in this team..sterling can run rings around him

 

Our media are saying that..english fans are realistic..but we also know we are better than croatia

 

Oh please. Being able to distinguish between support and belief you can win the world cup to hype is difficult to any external onlooker.

Most people act as if English fans should be saying they won't win the world cup right now. Why would they do that? It's not even true, they could win it.

It's also hypocrisy as there is no way the fans of the 3 other teams left in the world cup don't believe they can win it (or if your team had been there). The fans of the other 3 teams should believe they can win it btw.

 

We have more quality than croatia whose only real quality player is modric..we keep him quiet. We win

 

I'm an England fan and I think we will lose.

*See how stupid that sounds*

 

I don't know if you live in England. But the media haven't been saying England are guaranteed to win the WC. It's just made up nonsense from people outside.

The only thing that comes close are the joke "football's coming home" memes on twitter which are just good natured fun to lift spirits.

 

Anyway back to my opinion. I think we will win on wednesday but i hope gareth doesnt use henderson to shadow modric because hendo has shown there is more to his game than energy..hes shown great composure and a pirlo-esque passing ability..we have something croatia lack..pace..they will be terrified of the mobility and pace of our attack..especially sterling..this croatian team, on the whole are ageing...a lot of their players are in their 30s now and having played 2 extra time games, wont be as sharp as england..lovren is always an accident waiting to happen and their forward line is mediocre at best. If we keep modric quiet, we will win the game.