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There is a weird connection between England vs Croatia and a Wednesday. Six of the seven meeting between the two sides have been played on a Wednesday and today's game, well, again on Wednesday!
Of those seven clashes, England have won 4, drawn one with Croatia winning the other two. However, they have never met at the World Cup and their only meeting in a major tournament was back in EURO 2004 – England won 4-2 in the group stage.
Today's semi-final will be the third in England's history. They won the one they played in 1966, eventually winning the World Cup as well, and lost the semi-final in 1990 on penalties to Germany.
England Team News
No suspensions or injury worries for England today and that is great news for them. Jamie Vardy is reportedly fir again and will be available for selection.
Pre-match Talks
Speaking to the media ahead of the semi-final, Gareth Southgate said, “We are enjoying the journey. We came here to enjoy our football.”
“The age of the players, the improvement in the players and the hunger of the players has been apparent for everybody to see.“We are really proud with the style of our play, the intelligence of our play and that we have performed under pressure.” added the manager.
Speaking about the journey so far, Southgate said, “We have made several pieces of history in the tournament and we’re just looking to keep breaking those barriers down.”
“Yes, we’re going into a semi-final but to us it’s the next step along the journey. We’ve approached every game in the same way, our preparation for all the matches has been the same and we feel we’re in a good place.” added the manager.
England XI and Formation
England will go into the game with the same formation and XI as they did vs Sweden. They have been doing ever so well and Southgate will not opt to disrupt it.
Vardy and Loftus-Cheek might come on as substitutes when needed with Eric Dier being the main defensive sub.
