England take on Croatia in the second semi-final of the 2018 World Cup on Wednesday and Gareth Southgate’s side will be eyeing to end the trophy drought for the country.
The Three Lions has a smoother than expected encounter against Sweden in the quarterfinals where goals from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli ensured that England had a comfortable 2-0 victory.
But the clash against Croatia will be a trickier one and Modric and co have the ammunition to hurt England and cause an upset.
England take on Croatia in the second semi-final of the 2018 World Cup on Wednesday and Gareth Southgate’s side will be eyeing to end the trophy drought for the country.
So we take a look at how Gareth Southgate might line up his side during the World Cup semi-final.
England team news:
Jordan Pickford will be in goal and the English fans will be hoping that the Everton keeper can once again become the hero for the team much like he was during the Sweden game.
Gareth Southgate will not alter anything unless he has a serious injury so the centre-back trio of Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker and John Stones will take their place infront of Pickford.
Ashley Young suffered a minor injury during the Round of 16 match but the Man United player showed no signs of the injury during the quarterfinal and he will once again be back as the left-wing back supported by Kieran Trippier on the opposite side.
Jordan Henderson will play in a central/defensive midfielder and the Liverpool man might just have the most important job on the night i.e to stop Luka Modric from controlling the game. Modric is the man that makes Croatia tick and Henderson will have to ensure that he breaks Modric’s rhythm at every chance he gets.
Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard will be the other midfielders on the pitch but both of them are expected to play very contrasting roles. Alli will hopefully be given the role of helping out Jordan Henderson in the defensive areas while Lingard will have the license to roam free and in turn help Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane.
Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling will lead the attack for England.
England’s possible line-up vs Croatia:
Goalkeeper: Jordan Pickford.
Defence: Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire.
Midfield: Ashley Young, Jordan Henderson, Kieran Trippier, Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard.
Attack: Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane.
Read: Canadian journalist tries to mock England’s semi-final qualification but is brought down with a single tweet.
Read: Former Premier League defender gives his prediction as to which two teams will play the WC final.
Read: Croatian coach names England’s biggest threat ahead of the semi-final clash.
