Croatia or England

FootballHQ

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One is playing in the World Cup final this year.

Congratulations in order to...........?
 

FootballHQ

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How'd you work that out?
Russia v Denmark/Croatia v England/Colombia v Swiss/Sweden no?

Unless I've read the draw wrong but this is why everyone said England should finish second wasn't it?
 

Big Ben Foster

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Semifinal on the left side of the bracket will be the real final
 

FootballHQ

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Croatia imo but yes England's best chance since probably 66 to reach final considering 1990 had West Germany in semi final.
 

KC91

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I’d be shocked if it wasnt Croatia. Most quality on that side of the bracket by far.
 

Hojoon

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If England fans didn't feel giddy before, they probably are now.
 

FootballHQ

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They are the best surely?

Who is better on paper?
Modric, Rakitic, Persic, Mandzukic etc. Croatia would probably keep the ball for fun v England but their back 4 would struggle against pace and Kane.

Both teams still got to win their games of course.

My outsider would be the Swiss. Tough to break down and have players who can score out of nothing goals like Shaqiri.
 

Cheesy

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They are the best surely?

Who is better on paper?
Colombia and Croatia are probably at around a similar level. England do genuinely stand a decent chance now though if they win on Tuesday.
 

Javi

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Would make more sense to have URU v. FRA and DEN/CRO v. RUS in the same bracket because of rest days.
 

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Semifinal on the left side of the bracket will be the real final
Considering all the results we’ve witnessed so far, I wouldn’t rule any team out over 90 minutes.
 

FootballHQ

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I’d be shocked if it wasnt Croatia. Most quality on that side of the bracket by far.
Ban is currently sending links of this thread to Perisic and Rakitic....."LOOK AT ALL THESE HORRIBLE PEOPLE ON THE ENGLISH FORUMS CURSING US." ;)
 

Cal?

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Would make more sense to have URU v. FRA and DEN/CRO v. RUS in the same bracket because of rest days.
Then you end up with teams from the same group on the same side of the draw.
 

marktan

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If England have a proper tactical game plan we could beat say Columbia, Switzerland and Croatia to reach the final, but really a knockout match has so many variables that that the odds on us getting there isn't high. I can easily see any of those 3 teams beating us on their day.
 

endless_wheelies

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Actually think Spain going out is a bad result for England; I fancied us to beat a tired, one-dimensional Spain side or a Croatia side tired from a brawl with Spain, but a fresh Croatia side will have too much for us.

Plus the unrealistic expectations are going to get ridiculous - we are not a side that will steamroller Colombia/Switzerland/etc.
 

FootballHQ

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If England have a proper tactical game plan we could beat say Columbia, Switzerland and Croatia to reach the final, but really a knockout match has so many variables that that the odds on us getting there isn't high. I can easily see any of those 3 teams beating us on their day.
Difficult to see England keeping clean sheets against those teams aswell. No clean sheets in group stage after all so Kane needs to keep scoring otherwise it will go to extra time/penalties etc.

I do have a wierd feeling though that England will actually win a shoot out in this tournament, Pickford is pretty decent on penalties.
 

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So long as neither Brazil or France win it, I'll be happy with any team winning the whole thing if it ain't us.
 

Bojan11

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Actually think Spain going out is a bad result for England; I fancied us to beat a tired, one-dimensional Spain side or a Croatia side tired from a brawl with Spain, but a fresh Croatia side will have too much for us.

Plus the unrealistic expectations are going to get ridiculous - we are not a side that will steamroller Colombia/Switzerland/etc.
Spain would beat us to be fair.

I don’t think we got the players or discipline to play like Russia today so more spaces would be open for them.
 

Peyroteo

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This is like what happened during the Euros. Big chance for every single one of those teams.

Croatia are now the favourites to be in the WC final, it's crazy.
 

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I think Croatia are the favourites at the moment. The winner of England-Colombia being second favourites.
 

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England stroke gold with that loss to Belgium. Other side of the bracket is insane, France, Brazil and Belgium...
 

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Difficult to see England keeping clean sheets against those teams aswell. No clean sheets in group stage after all so Kane needs to keep scoring otherwise it will go to extra time/penalties etc.

I do have a wierd feeling though that England will actually win a shoot out in this tournament, Pickford is pretty decent on penalties.
He’s sketchy at most other things though.
 

Buchan

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No mention of Sweden here yet? They’ve been quietly impressive and handsomely dispatched of Mexico, who were among the best performers in the group stage. They could conceivably beat Switzerland and the winners of England v Colombia.

England never cope well with pressure and when the backbone of your team is made up of Spurs players, you’re not exactly giving the impression that that’s going to change any time soon, either.
 

FootballHQ

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England stroke gold with that loss to Belgium. Other side of the bracket is insane, France, Brazil and Belgium...
Uruguay is also the joker in the pack....

Whoever makes the final from that side will either be so battle hard they'll feel invincible (will be big favourites to win anyway pre match) or completely out of gas as suspect they'll be plenty of extra time in those games.

It's all very similar to the euros isn't it? Portugal ended up in the kind half and built up their defensive wall round by round and France had no answer to it in the final.
 

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Croatia have looked better overall from front to back. England have the best striker in Kane which tends to matter.

Definitely should reach the semis on paper but this is England after all.