OneFootball
Phil Costa·8 July 2018
OneFootball
Phil Costa·8 July 2018
Eight officially become four. Watching three matches a day like it was normal seems a distant memory now.
It was a day where the favourites conquered the underdog with England and Croatia progressing to the semi-finals, while we had to say goodbye to Sweden and Russia.
England are in a World Cup semi-final. That’s right. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. (Their first one for 28 years, to be exact).
Despite Sweden threatening on occasion this was a comfortable performance from the Three Lions and they will be quietly confident going forward.
This is a side that can mix things up. They can knock it into the channels, they can play the quick one-twos in midfield and they can be battering rams from set pieces if need be. Curses and hoodoos don’t seem to apply to this young side and they’re better for it.
In the other game, Croatia squeezed past host nation Russia in what was a tense two hours.
Russia took the lead through Denis Cheryshev (who was again excellent) only to be pegged back by Andrej Kramarić. Then it was Croatia’s turn to go ahead through Domagoj Vida – only for Russia to equalise in the last minute through Mario Fernandes. There’s sides being evenly matched and then there was this.
Penalties however wouldn’t be so kind. Someone’s always going to get their heart broken and it would be the Russians this time. You could feel the atmosphere sink at full time but pride shone through in the end.
Croatia – much like England – created history and reached a semi-final for the first time in 20 years. Who will keep their nerve in Moscow come Wednesday?
OK. Sounds interesting. If you had to pick a best moment though, what would you go for?
The penalty shoot-out. We felt nervous watching with no attachment to either side, let alone being a fan!
You can’t beat the drama. Just one player, a goalkeeper, a ball and a goal. Football stripped down to it’s bare minimum.
“It’s an incredible privilege to be the England manager, but when you sit and think about the people who have got to this point before, it’s difficult to put it into perspective, really.”
Nice guy Gareth. He’s a credit to himself and his country.
Russia finally fall. Nobody expected them to get this fa so they’ve done extremely well, but there will always be regrets about losing on home soil.
Luckily for you, there’s no football on today!
Get some rest. Refresh, reenergise. We’re going big again next week.
I try my best.