The second semi-final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the game between England and Croatia.
As things stand, one thing is sure: the next World Cup winner will be yet another European team, with France, Belgium, Croatia and England making the last four.
While the journey of the French and the Belgians to this stage was pretty much straightforward, the same cannot be said for the 2018 World Cup journey of the English men and the Croats.
The Croatians started the tournament like a house on fire. They kicked things off with a 2-0 win over Nigeria and then followed it up with an emphatic, unforgettable 3-0 win over Argentina before conceding the first goal of their campaign in their 1-2 win over Iceland.
At least that was what their group stage journey looked like.
For England in Group G, it was a direct battle with Belgium for the top spot in the group. And maybe that’s why they scored eight goals in their first two games – two against Tunisia, six against Panama. They later succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to Belgium.
With both sides set to meet, what can you expect from this game?
A high chance of extra-time and penalties
For Croatia, the last time their game ended in 90 minutes of normal time was in the group stages. Since then, they have played against Denmark and also against Russia, with both games going into extra-time and then penalties.
For England, Thy may have defeated Sweden in normal time in the quarter-finals but they had to do things the hard way in their second round game against Colombia; a game that also went into extra time.
Do you think this game will stretch into extra time?
Will the winner be decided via a penalty shoot-out?
Click here to predict and win.
Goals
The Croatians have scored an average of two goals per game since their 2018 World Cup campaign began. This average means that they have not failed to score in any of the five games that they have played so far in the competition.
For England, the average number of goals scored is the same – two goals per game. But unlike Croatia, they failed to score in their game against Belgium. If the football history between both sides is anything to go by, there will be a lot of goals scored in this game.
In the past six meetings between both sides, five of those games ended with over 2,5 goals and both teams scored in those five games.
Will there be a lot of goals scored in this game?
Can both teams score?
Click here to make your predictions and earn yourself some extra cash.
Head-to-Head
In those six meetings, England boasts of four wins, with the remaining two ending in wins for the Croatians. That means a game between both teams has not ended in a draw in quite the while.
For Croatia, Luka Modric is the player with the most goals (2 goals). For England, Harry Kane has scored six goals, and will be looking to finish the tournament as the highest goal-scorer.
Which team do you think will win this game? Leave us a comment and share your thoughts with us.
Leave a Reply