Kick-off is fast approaching in Moscow, and England fans and flags – from Tonbridge, Truro and beyond – are out in force. So, without further ado, strap yourselves in for all of the pain, glory and ecstasy, as it happens, with Scott Murray right here:
A first glimpse inside the England dressing room, via the kit man:
Come on England pic.twitter.com/eT3UNqIwi2
— Pat Frost (@KitmanPat) July 11, 2018
According to Gareth Southgate, this semi-final – which, frankly, is still sinking in – is only the start of things to come for England. “This team is nowhere near the level they’re going to be capable of, partly because of their age but also because they’ll have more big-match experiences over the next few years,” he said yesterday. “We are excited about the future but we want to make the most of this opportunity as well.”
Any early predictions? I’ll go England, on penalties, and promptly run for cover. Croatia have only met England once before at a major tournament – with Sven-Göran Eriksson’s team running out 4-2 winners in a group stage match at Euro 2004.
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Can I introduce you please, to a lump of cheddar cheese:
Lurking outside the team hotel, Zlatko Dalic, the Croatia manager, says he is “always optimistic” before the big one. As for Stipe Pletikosa, the former Croatia No 1 once of Tottenham Hotspur in 2010, he’s been talking up both sides. “They are really young, they really know how to attack opponents but we have experienced players who know how to deal with this situation, and that is a big plus for us today,” he says. “Rakitic, Modric, Mandzukic have huge experience at the highest level.”
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More on our big-time loser list from a little earlier. “It was actually even worse for the three Leverkusen guys, Schneider, Ramelow and Neuville, in 2002,” emails Christoph Hintermeier, all the way from Berlin, “because they not only came second in the World Cup and Champions League finals, but also lost the German Cup final to Schalke and lost the German league championship to Dortmund on the last day of the season after being at the top for most of 2001-2002. So they lost four major titles in the space of almost two months and Leverkusen cemented its Vizekusen stigma as the club who always comes second.” A reminder of our list:
• Thierry Henry (Arsenal and France 2006)
• Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Paul Breitner (West Germany and Bayern Munich 1982)
• Arjen Robben and Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich and Netherlands 2010)
• Nils Liedholm (Milan and Sweden 1958)
• Carsten Ramelow, Bernd Schneider and Oliver Neuville (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany 2002)
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The PA system at the Luzhniki is currently blaring out Three Lions, presumably as some sort of practice in the event of another thumping header from ‘Slab Head’, Harry Maguire:
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Between 8,000-10,000 England supporters – many of whom have broken the bank – are en route to Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Some are already in situ, some are still flocking towards the Russian capital. Supporters who have arrived without tickets face a day of haggling with black marketeers and private sellers in order to get in. Back home, the National Grid is braced for a 2,000MW-plus power surge – three times bigger than in England’s group games – as fans watching the game at home grab beers from the fridge and put on around 400,000 kettles to boil cups of tea.
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The last time England played Croatia, contrary to popular belief, things turned out pretty well. Fabio Capello’s team, fit with Matt Upson in defence, Rob Green in goal and a strike-force led by a front two of Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney, ran out emphatic 5-1 winners at Wembley in September 2009. Before that, not so good:
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Steven Gerrard, the former England captain, has weighed in with his two-pennies’ worth on whether it’s coming home, and Ewan Murray was listening in on what the Rangers manager had to say:
I fancy England, I must say,” Gerrard admitted. “I think they have handled every barrier or hurdle thrown at them in this World Cup and seem to be getting over them very well. “Croatia are a fantastic team. I think they actually possess the best midfielder in the world in the moment in Luka Modric. So it will certainly be a test, and the biggest test so far, but I just think there is a snowball effect and a feel-good factor that Gareth has continued to roll in a very impressive way. I think England will take some stopping.”
Pressed on what Southgate has done differently to his immediate predecessors, Gerrard initially smiled. “I think he has picked his penalty takers pretty well! No, let’s be honest, England have done great to be where they are but the biggest test is about to come tonight, with all due respect to Colombia and Sweden. “England have had, not an easy ride but a comfortable ride, let’s say. I think they will have to be the real deal tonight so we will find out if they are potential winners tonight. It will be very tough to go on and win the tournament with France in the final, but tonight we will find out if they are the real deal.”
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Jordan Henderson is fit to start, should Gareth Southgate stick with the same XI that toppled Sweden in the quarter-finals, as expected. Henderson excelled in that match, but faces arguably his biggest test in stifling the Modric-Rakitic axis in Moscow this evening. And his club manager, Jürgen Klopp, admits he is happy the Liverpool man is finally getting some recognition. “I think there’s a lot more to come but finally they see Jordan Henderson,” Klopp said. “Somebody needs to do the work in the midfield, like Hendo, for example. He is not only a workhorse but a really good footballer as well. So, I’m happy for him now that he gets at least a little bit of the light and it is very well deserved.”
Who’s the man in the middle tonight? Cuneyt Cakir. Not that it means anything ... but, the Turkish referee has taken charge of five previous England games and has never overseen an England defeat, the most recent at Wembley, a 3-0 win over Scotland in 2016 – a game that Southgate was still in interim charge for and Kyle Walker, John Stones, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling all started. He also refereed the Champions League final in 2015.
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It seems an apt time get a little fuzzy and nostalgic. And this hastily-created XI – with a belting midfield of David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Sir Bobby Charlton – is the closest thing to Gareth Southgate’s beloved – and so far brilliant – 3-5-2 system:
You can create your own here – or peruse Viv Anderson’s picks:
His performance against Spain in that opening round of matches – so long ago now – was nothing short of stunning, and the purring Portuguese has since moved on to pastures new with Juventus. But, in Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid are losing more than just four-hundred-and-fifty-one goals (44 of which were hat-tricks):
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Forget all the talk of Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappé or Luka Modric. We have a new star; Google has reported queries containing ‘World Cup’ have gone up by 200%, and those involving ‘beer’ by 65% as an old favourite helps fans in Russia connect:
Away from the usual suspects, Andrej Kramaric has had a really impressive tournament. He endured a forgettable stint at Leicester after a £9m move, but has been one of Croatia’s most dangerous players going forward, as our player ratings suggest here:
More red-hot supermarket news: further to Aldi, Iceland and Lidl pledging to shut up shop early should England reach Sunday’s final, unions and politicians are calling for a bank holiday in the event of it coming home, so to speak. The Trades Union Congress general secretary, Frances O’Grady, thinks a first World Cup win since 1966 merits a national holiday. “We have fewer bank holidays than most of Europe,” she said. “Giving people a day off to celebrate the World Cup would be great for the country and isn’t going to crash the economy. Workers put in billions worth of unpaid overtime each year. They should be allowed to enjoy special occasions.”
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Even more on that Jagger Jinx. “In 1990 I went to see the Rolling Stones at Wembley on the night that England played West Germany in the semi-final,” begins Josh Mandel. “Fortunately there was a guy standing near us with a mini-telly, so we kept tabs on the game. At the end of extra time Jagger left the stage for ten minutes, leaving Keith to sing lead vocals on a couple of songs before Jagger came back on. They’d already done “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, but they did finish the night with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, which seemed appropriate.”
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Welcome to the latest chapter of Waistcoat Wednesday, where much of the buildup to England’s biggest game since 1990 continues to revolve around one man, for M&S, the team’s official suit supplier since 2007, said demand for waistcoats has risen 35%, owing to the “Gareth Southgate effect”:
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I’d argue that Rob Smyth knows more about Italia 90 than most of the footballers who played in it. And he wrote a lovely piece for The Blizzard in 2014 about the long-term impact that England’s penalty shootout defeat by West Germany in the World Cup semi-final had on English football. There are some lovely nuggets in there, not least this one that may come to mind tonight if the game goes to penalties.
The demand for electricity just after Waddle’s kick against West Germany was the highest for six years, since the final episode of The Thorn Birds.”
You can read his wonderful piece here and then Ben Fisher will take over to bring you all the buildup as England’s Class of 2018 attempt to go one further than Bobby Robson’s boys. Bye.
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Our graphics team have been working furiously throughout the World Cup to bring you more stats, charts and graphs than you would find in a maths textbook. Here is how Croatia and England compare for shots and goals in each match throughout the tournament right up to tonight’s semi-final.
And here’s our ongoing graphical interpretation of Russia 2018, where every game and goal is presented in snazzy fashion as a treat for your peepers.
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And did you know there was another major match going on as I type that involves England? Here’s Tanya Aldred to tell you all about it.
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Apparently, there’s a game on tonight and some grown men still can’t think of dressing up as anything other than 12th-15th century knights of the realm to display their Englishness.
Meanwhile, away from the World Cup, here’s a bit of Chelsea-related news:
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An update on our big-time loser list. Michael Ballack, who lost the European Cup final with Leverkusen in 2002, was suspended for the World Cup final that year so did not play. So he’s been scratched off. However, we now have Ballack’s teammates Carsten Ramelow, Bernd Schneider and Oliver Neuville to add. So the list reads:
Thierry Henry (Arsenal and France 2006)
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Paul Breitner (West Germany and Bayern Munich 1982)
Arjen Robben and Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich and Netherlands 2010)
Nils Liedholm (Milan and Sweden 1958)
Carsetn Ramelow, Bernd Schneider and Oliver Neuville (Bayer Leverkusen and Germany 2002)
So Alexander-Arnold, Henderson and Lovren will be hoping to avoid joining this group if they get to the final.
What time is it? It’s World Cup Fiver O’Clock! Here’s Paul Doyle on whether football or flipall is coming home.
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More on the Jagger Jinx here. It goes further back than we thought. “This didn’t start in 2010 - he was in the crowd for [England’s defeat by Argentina] in St Etienne 1998; I remember the pictures of him and the Guardian describing him,” writes John Cox.
I wonder if the Jagger Jinx expands beyond football. If you saw him, say, when you were about to do a bungee jump, should you immediately check on your life insurance policy? All this talk of the Jagger Jinx can’t be good for Rolling Stones ticket sales.
Paul Pogba has dedicated France’s 1-0 semi-final win over Belgium to the 12 Thai boys who were rescued from a flooded cave along with their coach on Tuesday.
“This victory goes to the heroes of the day, well done boys, you are so strong,” Pogba said after Samuel Umtiti’s headed goal put France in Sunday’s World Cup final in Moscow, where they will play Croatia or England.
On Wednesday, La Liga said they had invited the boys and their coach to Spain to attend a Spanish top flight game in the future when they have fully recovered from the ordeal.
La Liga’s president Javier Tebas said: “When the moment is right and everyone is ready I would like to invite the children and their coach to go to a Liga game. We would like to host them and share with them the happiness of football, hoping that this can go some way to helping them after everything they’ve been through in the last few weeks.”
Fifa had invited the boys to Sunday’s World Cup final although the world organising body said that due to medical reasons the boys would not be in a position to travel to the game, although they would invite them to an event in the future.
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I think we’ve hit peak ‘It’s Coming Home’:
Hard run today. Hot, and kept getting distracted by all those gleaming jewels... #threelions #Eng #WorldCup #ItsComingHome #ukrunchat #runner pic.twitter.com/Xu7GFMjoi4
— Felix Gott (@Felixgott) July 8, 2018
Kira Nelson can’t help but get ahead of herself: “If England do potentially reach the final, what sort of game plan would we have against France? I see Trippier’s crosses as a big factor. Had Nacer Chadli provided some better balls into the box last night the outcome of the match may have been very different, as it seemed this was the only time France’s defence seemed in any way vulnerable. Trying to play through France in my opinion would be a terrible idea, and on the break Mbappe is a fearsome prospect. Get the ball out wide as often as possible to Trippier and Young to whip them in, stop passes into Mbappe and we may have a chance. Assuming we can get past Croatia and the magician that is Luka Modric.”
Some more lunchtime reading … and quizzing:
If you’ve enjoyed reading Jorge Valdano, Barney Ronay, Marcel Desailly, Thomas Hitzlsperger and the rest of our World Cup team’s coverage of the tournament so far, then you can help to support us and ensure we can continue to cover future tournaments so comprehensively in the future by becoming a Guardian member. Our senior sports writer, Barney Ronay, explains how you can help keep the Guardian’s football coverage in play.
An answer to Rosa O’Rourke’s question about the shape of the blob flags before games in Russia.
@GreggBakowski don't the weird shaped flags reflect the onion domes atop St Basil's Cathedral and are a common feature on Russian Orthodox churchs?
— Lorcán Murray (@lorcanmurray) July 11, 2018
The UK is now the most obese nation in Western Europe. Twenty-eight per cent of children between two and 15 are overweight – and Barney Ronay believes England’s run at the World Cup should be used for the greater good and inspire youngsters at grassroots level to be healthier in a way that the Olympics failed to do.
“My family have been debating a very important question all tournament - during the anthems, what shape are the weird flag blobs meant to be? Our guesses have included hearts, tears, and a location pin like on google maps, but we can’t find the answer anywhere! Can the famous Guardian investigative journalism help us settle this argument?” asks Rosa O’Rourke. I would love to be able to tell you Rosa, but our investigative journalist David Conn is busy. So I’ll plump for teardrops, because football makes us all cry a little, even if it’s just inside.
Ralph Brown has been busy pulling apart the lyrics to Three Lions to give us a glimpse into the glass-half-empty English psyche.
@GreggBakowski why do our 30 years of hurt begin in 1967 when we were holders of the #WorldCup? World Champions until 1970. Why are 66-70 years of hurt? A clue to the national character perhaps? Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Or just poetic licence fail
— ralph brown (@Ralphwjbrown) July 11, 2018
Superstitions eh? I suspect James Walsh won’t be the only England fan avoiding walking under ladders, blanking a black cat or swerving cracks in the pavement today: “I am struggling with my own Jagger’s jinx for tonight. A friend has invited me over to watch the match, but it is well known that the specific combination of me in that guy’s house ends in embarrassing English defeat regardless of format or feasibility – a record dating back to the 2007 cricket World Cup, despite the best efforts of future PM Ravinder Bopara. He has admittedly since moved down the road, but the one match of this World Cup I’ve seen at his new place was … Belgium 1-0 England. Should I just lock myself in the shed?” Maybe, but perhaps take a bucket.
Croatia have another stellar midfielder you know – and David Hytner has written this lovely piece about the man who is happy to be put on the spot.
The pressure is intense, never more than on that walk from the halfway line when teammates are begging you to please, please, please score and every step seems an eternity. Yet, on the outside at least, he walked calmly into the next round, taking Croatia with him, making history. It is more than penalties too, there is something in that idea that defines him well beyond the spot, the safety in knowing he is there, when needed and what is needed.
An intriguing battle in tonight’s game will be that between Harry Kane and Dejan Lovren, who had a nightmare against Tottenham last October and was hauled off after 31 minutes of Liverpool’s 4-1 defeat. In Croatia’s press conference he was asked whether this game would be on his mind, and was a little bit miffed.
I don’t know what to say in response to this question. It’s completely irrelevant, that 4-1 defeat. Why didn’t you ask me how I played well against him in other games? You’re just nit-picking in terms of my performances.
To be fair to Lovren, he has recovered remarkably well since that low point, having got over a debilitating back injury and then benefited from having Virgil van Dijk as his partner in central defence at Liverpool. He played brilliantly in the Champions League games and appears so much more assured now. Croatia’s best chance of upsetting Lovren could be if Kane drops deep and pulls him out of position. Prhaps then Raheem Sterling or Dele Alli could find space in behind.
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The state of the world right here, summed up by corporate banter between the public transport authorities of Paris and Brussels. Here’s the story via Reuters:
Brussels commuters, heading to work the morning after Belgium’s painful World Cup loss to France, had to endure the French soccer anthem piped through the city’s metro on Wednesday.
The reason: not only did the national team lose 1-0 in Tuesday’s semi-final but also the Brussels public transport authority lost a bet with its Parisian counterpart. Before the match, the two groups challenged each other on social media. If Belgium won, Paris would change signs at its Saint-Lazare station to “Saint Hazard” in honour of Belgian whirlwind midfielder Eden Hazard. But after the “Golden Generation’s” defeat in St Petersburg, Brussels instead had to “treat” travellers to the anthem “Tous Ensemble” -
All together - by late French rocker Johnny Hallyday at 8 and 10 am. At least Hallyday’s father was a Belgian. The country honoured the singer’s heritage when he died last year, playing his greatest hits on trains and over loudspeakers on the Grand Place in central Brussels.
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I asked you which other players have lost a European Cup final and World Cup final in the same year and you didn’t disappoint. The sorry list of big time double-losers is:
Thierry Henry (Arsenal and France 2006)
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Paul Breitner (West Germany and Bayern Munich 1982)
Arjen Robben and Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich and Netherlands 2010)
Nils Liedholm (Milan and Sweden 1958)
“Nils Liedholm managed to do the unwanted double of losing the European Cup final and the World Cup final in the same year at the earliest opportunity. In May 1958, he captained Milan to a 3-2 defeat against the great Real Madrid team of Di Stefano and Kopa, after being 1-0 and 2-1 up - just over a month later, he opened the scoring for Sweden against Brazil, only to lose 5-2 to Pele and Garrincha’s mob,” writes Phili Laing.
If you want to know if what the longest assist in World Cup history is then today’s edition of The Knowledge is required reading. It also reveals who the lowest-ranked English-based World Cup 2018 player is while Rob Smyth busts the Italia 90 Dave Beasant myth.
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Now you might think Jordan Henderson’s ability to nullify Luka Modric, Kieran Trippier’s explosive runs from right wing-back or Dele Alli’s knack of arriving in the box with impeccable timing might determine whether England make it to the World Cup final by beating Cratia tonight. But we all know it will come down to the Jagger Jinx. If the Rolling Stones frontman turns up in Moscow tonight, England are doomed. He did for Belgium’s hopes last night and he did for Brazil’s in 2014 too. Poor Mick’s even be blamed for obliterating Australia’s hopes of winning the 2015 Rugby World Cup because his former partner, Jerry Hall, turned up at that one. Here’s a piece from 2014 explaining the Jagger Jinx.
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And having looked at the shimmering list of players who have won the World Cup and European Cup in the same year, what about those who have lost a European Cup final and World Cup final within the space of a couple of months.
The only one I can recall is Michael Ballack, who lost the European Cup final with Bayer Leverkusen in 2002 and then went on to lose the World Cup final with Germany when Ronaldo tore them apart for Brazil. Players who could get to experience that acute misery on Sunday are England’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson, or Croatia’s Dejan Lovren, all of whom experienced defeat for Liverpool against Real Madrid in Kiev. Any more to join Ballack? Let me know.
Stat time! If Raphael Varane goes on to win the World Cup he will join an exclusive group of players who have won the European Cup and World Cup in the same year. There are 10 at the moment. Here they are:
Uli Hoeness, Gerd Müller, Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Breitner, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, Sepp Maier and Jupp Kapellmann (Bayern Munich and Germany 1974)
Christian Karembeu (Real Madrid and France 1998 ), Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid and Brazil 2002) and Sami Khedira (Real Madrid and Germany 2014)
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Sachin Nakrani has been busy crunching the numbers at Guardian Towers to work out just where England rank in this World Cup. One of the best stats in this piece is not even England-related. It shows that Spain players still boss the passes completed section thanks to shuffling a million passes sideways and backwards in the last 16 against Russia.
Amar Breckenridge believes a Belgian coach’s influence on Didier Deschamps might explain why the France team are playing such functional but successful football in Russia. “Didier Deschamps’s major achievements in France were winning the inaugural Champions League with Marseille in 1993 ( the first and only time a French club has won the title) and the World Cup in 1998 and Euros in 2000. All these were won on the back of iron discipline. In Marseille’s case that was masterminded by Belgian coach Raymond Goethals - nicknamed ‘La Science’ - and it’s hard not to see the late Goethal’s influence last night against, ironically, his homeland. And for all that we remember the exploits of Zinedine Zidane for France, the basis of France’s success was their defence – Blanc, Thuram, Lizarezu and Desailly, with Deschamps in front of them. France never lost when that back four played together. Given that background, Deschamps would never become the exponent of expansive play. Once derided by Eric Cantona as Zidane’s ‘water-carrier’, Deschamps is banking on his calculated approach to take France to a second title.”
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Jorge Valdano has penned some brilliant columns for the Guardian during the World Cup and his latest, on Luka Modric, is another wonderful piece of writing, getting to the heart of what it is hat makes the Croatia captain so damn good at football. Here’s an extract:
When the ball passes by his feet, the play flows as if football was the easiest thing in the world. It’s not about adding intensity or danger to the move; it’s about adding sense, clarity, intent. At a World Cup at which it seems like spaces are disappearing – which is strange, considering the pitch still measures 100 x 70 – and everyone who gets the ball seems to be in a hurry, as if the entire pitch was penalty area, Modric performs the miracle of allowing the move to breathe, giving the ball the necessary speed, wherever it is on the field. Suddenly, we discover space and time do exist and that all that was needed was someone with the talent to bring them back, to make them what they always were. Someone who knows how to play football. Or better still, PLAY FOOTBALL in capital letters.
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More on the question of whether the FA has fixed English football. Here’s Luke Harrison: “I am with Chaps on this.... Somehow the FA has done something right with St George’s Park which does seem to be working. Evidenced by consensus on this article and by winning two (TWO!!!) youth World Cups last year. I agree that the appointment of Southgate was accidentally visionary but I think the future of English football is bright. So much so that I am almost hoping we don’t win this world cup so we can really win it in style in four or eight years time. Having said that, my confidence in the FA is such that I would not be surprised if they find a way to mess the whole thing up.”
I’d agree that the youth World Cup wins are a huge indicator of progress being made in English football development. There is still the thorny issue of whether those players who have done so well at development level can break into their respective club sides’ first teams, though. That Trent Alexander-Arnold has done so well at Liverpool is a good sign but if a player such as Phil Foden, who appears to be an incredible talent, can somehow become a Manchester City first-team regular, then the prospects are good. His career could still stall, though. Look at Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who can’t break into the team at Chelsea despite a couple of seasons knocking on the door. The Premier League could still ruin all the FA’s good work. Good old Premier League.
A bit of World Cup-related transfer news now. Liverpool are hopeful of wrapping up a £13m deal for Stoke and Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri, aka the Powercube, before Jürgen Klopp heads off to the United States with his Liverpool squad on 22 July for a pre-season tour. Here’s our man on Merseyside, Andy Hunter, with the story.
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You know the nation has lost the run of itself when there is an entire podcast dedicated to deconstructing Three Lions to understand its perennial popularity. Here’s what musician Anthony T Jackson makes of the Lightning Seeds’ song:
There’s a lovely moment towards the end of the bridge - the section just before the final chorus - where the songwriters leave us on that C7 chord - the chord that previously has taken us both to the F minor tonality of the verses and the major tonality of the triumphant choruses. It lingers tantalisingly, followed only by a reprise of the quiet, unassertive introductory music. It’s the closest they could have come, I think, to simply leaving the song at that. They had to finish with repeated choruses, given the song’s brief as a popular anthem, but that moment - lingering on the chord that for the rest of the song leads one of two ways, pain or glory - is almost as if they wanted to leave the question of defeat or victory open, to express that state of hope and doubt that strikes every fan on the eve of a major football match …
You can listen to his full podcast here or we can all just agree that it’s catchy.
Not everybody believes the FA has fixed English football. “I’d slightly disagree with Chaps assertion that ‘the performance of this squad and its coaches encourages me to believe that England will be there or thereabouts in coming years and tournaments,’” writes William Hargreaves. “I think that the appointment of Southgate was a blip, visionary through unconscious good fortune. As soon as Southgate has done his stuff it will be back to the usual numbskull fare from the FA, I fear, unless the whole FA get Southgated.”
Hello. Gregg here. Excited much? Good. Do you know who else can’t stop thinking about England v Croatia? Yes, Steve McClaren. He’s been thinking about the fixture for 11 years. Here’s Ed Aarons to recall that damp night at Wembley in November 2007.
And with that, I’ll hand over to Gregg Bakowski, who take you nearer kick-off time in Moscow. Until next time.
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@mike_hytner Selfishly, Belgium denied us the opportunity for revenge by losing last night. Has there ever been a World Cup final played between teams who met in the group stages of the same tournament?
— Richard Hart (@ricardo_hart) July 11, 2018
West Germany and Hungary met twice in 1954 when the Germans gained sweet revenge for a thumping 8-3 group stage defeat with a 3-2 win over the heavily-fancied Hungary of Kocsis and Puskas in the final – the Miracle of Bern.
And in 1962, Brazil and Czechoslovakia were in the same group, drawing 0-0, before goals from Amarildo, Zito and Vavá gave Brazil a 3-1 victory in the final. I think they are the only times it has happened to date, but stand to be corrected.
Aha, here it is, what all goalkeepers have been presumably waiting for, courtesy of a bunch boffins in a lab. Given that said boffins are based in Germany, one assumes it’s safe to assume this as gospel? Quick someone tell Jordan Pickford.
Here’s the full story on those earlier quotes from Hazard and Courtois.
How wildly delirious are hopes that Gareth Southgate’s side can join France in the final? Below the line, opinion is, of course, split. “England will cruise past Croatia, relax,” says Flugler, while Noutopia reckons England “have a chance, but highly likely we’ll blow it.”
Chaps is full of optimism, even if the Croatia result goes against England: “Even if football doesn’t ‘come home’ this year, the performance of this squad and its coaches - and the full pipeline of talent (evidenced by being serial silverware winners at junior levels) encourages me to believe that England will be there or thereabouts in coming years and tournaments, much as France have been since 1998. I’m sure now that it won’t be another 28 years before England makes another semi-final. It will become, more or less, a regular occurrence.”
A few more headlines as France wakes up to a stonking hangover and the prospect of a World Cup final:
- Le Parisien: “Les Bleus at the gates of heaven!”
- Le Figaro: “The dream in blue continues”
- Le Monde: “A flavour of ‘98 seizes the streets of France”
- France Football: “A dream that is becoming less and less crazy”
“They’re redefining the English game and I wanted to be a part of it.” Not Gareth Southgate and his backroom staff, but rather Manchester City under Pep Guardiola. That’s the view of Riyad Mahrez at least, who has put pen to paper on a deal at the Etihad.
In other news, you may have heard a certain transfer has gone through. Ronaldo to Juve for silly money. Still, the Old Lady of Turin has not made many mistakes lately, writes Paolo Bandini as he assesses the “deal of the century”.
Just going back to the ‘p’ word for a moment – Croatia’s exertions, both mental and physical, in their quarter-final shootout win over Russia could yet come back to bite them. At least that’s what England will be hoping after Zlatko Dalic admitted his team were tired.
“We’ve played five difficult games, they’ve taken their toll. We’re tired but there can be no excuses. We’ve come to the semi-final. We’re here to play football, enjoy ourselves and give our all. We do not want to say we are fatigued. We have not been exhausted. There is still opportunity for us to exhaust ourselves.”
After a quiet game by his standards against Sweden, what can England expect from their captain Harry Kane against Croatia? It’s not just about goals though – just ask Olivier Giroud, or even better read this from a woman who knows a thing or two about being a world-class striker, Marta.
“People often ask me what the secret to being a good goalscorer is but there is not just one thing that makes someone a brilliant and consistent striker. You need a bit of everything. You need technique and positional awareness; you need to be able to read the game and be quick. To be great, you need all of these things.”
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The Croatia manager, Zlatko Dalicwe, reckons his side “always expect to solve everything within 90 minutes”, which is great news for anyone of a nervous disposition, yet the prospect of another penalty shootout looms large over the game in Moscow, as it does in any game in the knockout phase between two evenly matched sides. Thankfully, England have Sir Jordan Pickford in their ranks, but Croatians will be equally comforted by Danijel Subasic. Here’s Aleksandar Holiga on the Croatia keeper:
The Monaco goalkeeper is a penalty specialist, having let in only 58% of the spot-kicks he has faced in Ligue 1 and saved three out of five as Croatia knocked out Denmark in this World Cup.
Football is just a game, 22 people kicking an inflated bag around, hopefully having a bit of fun along the way. Winning, losing, who cares? It’s about taking part, taking enjoyment out of the game. But then again, it can be so much more than that. And the World Cup tends to remind us of this on a quadrennial basis. For England, certainly, this tournament has become something more than a game. Here’s Hugh Muir on that:
“Oh, to be in England / Now that April’s there,” wrote Browning, but he might have looked at that again after last weekend and decided it could bear revision. “Oh, to be in England’s capital as Gareth Southgate’s team march nonchalantly into the World Cup semi-finals,” perhaps. When people meet the glances of others, smile and know exactly what they are thinking. When strangers, merry and giddy, connect on the trains that usually symbolise an urban dystopia. When young Britons of many complexions sport England shirts and look as though they had won a modest bet.
This is so hot off the virtual press, I haven’t had time to read it yet, but since it’s from Jonathan Wilson, one can assume it’s essential reading ahead of The Big Match:
If the England players aren’t nervous, the same cannot be said for the majority of those who will watch on through inevitably laced fingers in Russia and back home. That people appear to be allowing themselves to dream only heightens those nerves. Here’s Barney Ronay on a a moment that nobody really expected.
If the last few days have been marked by a feeling of gathering English hysteria, not to mention booze-sodden escapism as the rest of the country energetically falls to bits, then it is worth noting these moments don’t come around very often.
Time to cast forward now, to today’s second semi-final. A lovely scene-setter from Daniel Taylor in Moscow:
Did you see Dele Alli this week reminiscing about the time he [nutmegged] Luka Modric? Perhaps you thought he sounded a little overconfident to be talking of such a thing. But it was actually quite reassuring, from an English perspective, to be in Alli’s company and see, close-up, how confident he was at a time when this bunch of players, more than ever, need to show they have moved on since the days when Fabio Capello said the England shirt “weighed heavily” on their shoulders.
The focus of Courtois’ ire – rather amusingly his Chelsea teammate Giroud – is coming in for a bit of stick after a fairly anodyne performance – and another game without a goal. That’s over seven hours of play without scoring or, indeed, even a shot on target. The Stéphane Guivarc’h of a new generation.
Olivier Giroud is yet to hit the target with any of his 10 shots at this #WorldCup.
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) July 10, 2018
He is the only one of the 84 players to have attempted six or more shots at the tournament and yet to hit the target with a single one. ❌ pic.twitter.com/pW3tz7SI8J
And another! “I prefer to lose with this Belgium than win with this France.”
Eden Hazard has been at it too, telling Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad: “But they do defend strongly and are very efficient. We have not found their weak point. That little moment of magic needed to score was not there. We have seen a fantastic Belgian team and have been eliminated by a team that was more solid than us.”
“It’s just an anti-football team”
A case of sour grapes in the Belgium camp? Speaking of their French conquerors, Thibaut Courtois told the Belgian website Sporza: “Their striker plays 30 metres from his own goal.” Oof. And there’s more: “It’s a pity and frustrating, I prefer to lose to a team like Brazil, who want to play football at least. France are no better than us, they do not play football, but they do have a lot of strength.”
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Some of those French celebrations turned a bit ugly earlier. This from Reuters:
The partying was marred by clashes between riot police and mobs on the iconic Champs Elysees avenue. Live TV images showed bare-chested men hurling plastic crowd-control barriers and other missiles at the armed officers, who charged back. In the southern city of Nice, more than two dozen fans were hurt when the detonation of firecrackers triggered a brief stampede near the seafront.
After a France game, it’s always good to have a look at how L’Équipe sees things. “Head in the stars” blazes its front page today. “Thanks to a headed goal from Samuel Umtiti, France can dream of a second World Cup title, 20 years after their first star in 1998.”
🇫🇷💫 Les Bleus sont en finale... la tête dans les étoiles !
— Л'ЭКИП - L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) July 10, 2018
C'est la Une du journal L'Équipe à consulter dans quelques minutes sur le numérique. pic.twitter.com/HefVyhQHIV
The paper, which is notoriously sensible with its player ratings, awarded France an average of 7, to Belgium’s 5.1. Umtiti, Raphael Varane and Hugo Lloris got 8s, while Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois stood out with an 8 too. Eden Hazard (6), Romelu Lukaku (4) and Mousa Dembélé (3) didn’t fare as well.
And just to rehash the Tintin theme – France “walked on De Bruyne”:
🇫🇷🇧🇪 Après «Objectif Lune», «On a marché sur De Bruyne».@tsoulcie a imaginé pour @lequipe la suite des aventures des Bleus, inspiré par Les Aventures de Tintin, l'œuvre du dessinateur belge Hergé. pic.twitter.com/fY9Ssnycyd
— Л'ЭКИП - L'ÉQUIPE (@lequipe) July 10, 2018
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One can only imagine how Belgium’s players are feeling at the moment (and how their Croatian English counterparts will later on). Unless you’ve been in that high-pressure, high-stakes situation, it’s impossible to conceptualise the emotions it conjures up.
Trevor Steven knows all about playing a World Cup semi-final though. He was there in Turin in 1990, and reckons it was “like an out-of-body experience”. The former gives Jamie Jackson some further interesting insight into the agony being so close, yet so far.
Snozmusket writes below the line: “Asterix, not Asterisk?” Good point. (*)
* this is an asterisk. This is Asterix.
Meanwhile, this is a great thread of France’s World Cup finalists as kids. Special shout out to Giroud’s hair, which is beautifully lustrous.
This kid is in the World Cup Final. #Kante #FRA pic.twitter.com/DJ9GlfW4oe
— ⚽️ is a Country (@FutbolsaCountry) July 10, 2018
What of Belgium? Their so-called golden generation has failed to deliver the goods once again. When can the promise of becoming world beaters be dismissed? You could make a pretty strong argument for, in Belgium’s case, that moment to be now after they came up blank against France and lost a match for the first time in 25 outings. As David Hytner at the St Petersburg Stadium writes:
“This was Belgium’s big opportunity; the moment to make history by reaching a first World Cup final. For many years the squad have been tracked by talk of a golden generation and several members of Martínez’s squad had made it plain that they were here to lift the trophy. Nothing else. But in the end, they were stifled and the manager did not have the answers.”
Redemption is a word on the minds of Deschamps et al. Or rather la rédemption. The pain of Euro 2016, when they lost to Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the final, still lingers around the camp like the smell of a particularly fruity Brie de Meaux. Deschamps says he is keen to devour it, and never see it regurgitated again (or words to that effect).
“I was there two years ago with my staff,” Deschamps said. “It was so painful we really want to taste the victory tonight. It’s not nothing to win the semi-final of the World Cup after losing the final of the Euro. It’s sport, we have this privilege to give happiness to the French people and the public.”
Here’s some blurb from the pod crew: “Max and co discuss France becoming the first finalist of the 2018 World Cup, a Thibaut Courtois post-match meltdown, England’s hopes, dreams and fears, Cristiano Ronaldo’s move and Welsh nightmares.” Do yourselves a favour and have a listen.
Preamble
Allez les Blues! A decades-old debate has finally been settled by way of a fairly important football match in Saint Petersburg: Asterix is officially better than Tintin. And the upshot of that particular little revelation is that France are in the World Cup final, at the expense of their cousins to the north-east, Belgium.
A tricolour-hued crowd collectively lost their merde on the Champs-Elysee after the 1-0 win in predictable shades of ‘98. Perhaps it was fitting then, that the match-winner was the Cameroon-born defender Samuel Umtiti.
Didier Deschamps, who as a player was part of that Black-Blanc-Beur side, will now seek to emulate one of his predecessors, Aimé Jacquet, and complete his mission against the winner of another fairly important football match later today – that between Croatia and England.
Ah, yes, that small matter. Bus shelters across England are bracing themselves with a nation set to spontaneously combust should Gareth Southgate’s side manage to reach a first World Cup final since 1966. The tension is mounting, the pressure building. What could go wrong?
Anyway, stick with us as the buildup properly commences (aware we’ve been building up to this ever since the final whistle tooted in Samara, but this time we really mean it). And we’ll be able to cast an eye back over the game in Saint Petersburg, and bring you any breaking news as and when it happens before kick-off in Moscow.
9pm MSK/7pm BST/4am Thursday AEST: Croatia v England, Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
Throughout the course of the day/evening/whatever it is where you are, please do feel free to get in touch on email (mike.hytner@theguardian.com) or Twitter (@mike_hytner) or below the line. Meanwhile, you could do worse than sign up for the World Cup Fiver.
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