On Wednesday July 11th at 2pm eastern in Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Croatia and England will battle for a trip to the 2018 World Cup Final. In what has been an odds-defying tournament thus far, our World Cup Betting odds have England as the favorite in this match, but mightier teams have fallen to more inferior rivals since the first match of this World Cup, back on June 14th. The last time Croatia had made semi-finals was in 1998, while England has not made it this far since 1990. In terms of match history, England holds a 4-1-2 record all-time vs Croatia, with the last game being a 5-1 England win in 2009, during the lead up to the 2010 World Cup.
Croatia
Captain Luka Modrić has referred to his team as ‘very unified’, and it is easy to see why. After having won their group ahead of Leo Messi's Argentina, Croatia has been through a gauntlet of emotions in surviving two consecutive penalty shootout wins in route to this point. They topped Denmark in the Round of 16 and Russia in the Quarter-finals, both in shootouts to get to this point - the cusp of their country’s first-ever World Cup final. This is a team who has been through its share of disappointments as a group, despite having a wealth of talent compared to other countries their size. Before this World Cup, Croatia had not won a knockout game in a major tournament since the Euro 2008 tournament. Many pundits said that this team was too individual to win, but in Russia Modrić and his team have spread out the scoring between 8 different players - the second most of any team still left in the World Cup, behind Belgium.
England
There may be no team more unified than England - they are a young, energetic team who are trying to write a new chapter in their nation's soccer history. After a number of disappointing results in major tournaments in past years, England ditched most of its core in favor of new, younger players for this World Cup. Now lead by the likes of Harry Kane, Delle Alli, and Jordan Pickford, England have come together in this World Cup to restore their nation's faith in the National Team. England finished second in their group behind Belgium, who is also now in the semi-finals, and disposed of a talented Colombia team in a shootout before crushing the dreams of a teamwork-oriented Swedish squad that had won their group and beat Switzerland in the round of 16. Kane leads all players in the World Cup with 6 goals, and Pickford has been gathering attention for his spectacular play in goal.
Match Overview
In order to stop England, Croatia must be wary of their success on set pieces; thus far England has scored 8 goals from set pieces in their five matches. Not only is this the most set-piece goals in this tournament, it is the most at a World Cup since Portugal in 1966. Croatia meanwhile has the most yellow cards so far at the World Cup. They have also now played two very demanding knockout games, the last against a Russian team that has earned a reputation in this tournament for running a fast-paced game and forcing their opponents to keep up the pace. Croatia will hope to have recovered by Wednesday if they are to compete with a young, energetic England.
