World Cup 2018: 5 underperformers from the semi-finals

#3 Dele Alli - England

Dele was left clueless by the Croatian midfield

Dele Alli was supposed to shine in this World Cup, this was a kid who had nutmegged Modric before he’d even made his Premier League debut.

Jokes aside, the Tottenham man had a good run in this edition of the World Cup having started four of England's six games in Russia, missing the group games against Panama and Belgium through injury.

However his game against Croatia was far from it. England made the perfect start with a brilliant free-kick by Kieran Trippier in the fifth minute following a Luka Modric foul on Dele Alli, and should have looked to capitalise on it immediately.

But that was very much the peak for England as their attack faded and Croatia grew into the contest with Harry Kane missing from the near post to double up the lead.

With a coveted midfield that is at Croatia's disposal, it was an end to end game and Alli, who started in a fullback role to help in both the defense and offense was caught out as the game progressed and Luka Modric began weaving passes with magic as is his fashion.

While it was up to him and Trippier to retract and help Henderson at the back, the 22 year-old had a few moments of defensive indiscipline and concentration lapses that put his team under pressure.

His long balls were frequently intercepted, depriving Kane of steady service and the combined efforts from the Croatian midfield meant that Dele was often robbed of the ball.

His ability to go ahead and exploit the opponent's defense with the spectacular is well known, Southgate should have kept that in mind when giving Dele his defensive duties. But the damage had already been done and the game lost.

However the World Cup campaign has been a great revelation for the Spurs player, and he has a bright future.