“They have a great team. And everyone here in Croatia have a great respect towards their players and theirr young and good manager. If he continues to do such a good job with the national team, there is no fear for their football future.
We don’t react good after set pieces.
It should be a good and interesting match, let all of us enjoy it.”

“Overall looking at the two knockout games England have been more convincing, they’ll be the fresher outfit and have no injury concerns to their starters.
As to how the teams match up and the individual h2h’s I think arguments can be made for both sides. England’s pace will test Croatia and their direct style and set pieces isn’t something this Croat team has dealt with in this WC. On the other side, Croatia has a much better midfield than both Sweden and Colombia and has the ability to control that part of the pitch. They also have pace and direct goal threats out wide.
The Croats also have the edge in experience but England are young and hungry, to me they look more likely to be the team playing to win. I think that’s where their edge lies.”

“this match will be a real pleasure to watch because the both teams will attack and will play with passion.
At my eyes, yes we need to be focus on some players. Especially Trippier on the right side, his runs, his calls and his delivery are always perfect. He was unknown before his arrival in the Tottenham squad but today, he’s one of the best offensive right back.
Plus the Tottenham connection is hugely present in this team and we must to contain that, not let them to play and take confidence between them. With players like Alli, Dier, Kane, Trippier, Rose, or with Walker who was at Tottenham too.
So Southgate will maybe play with the same line-up as he did in their past matchs during this world cup, with Pickford – Maguire, Stones, Walker – Young, Henderson, Alli, Lingard, Trippier – Kane, Sterling.
With Delph, Rashford and Dier as replacement for Young, Sterling and Henderson.
But yeah, as you said their set pieces are really dangerous and they’re all coming from Trippier.
Now, this will be a real test for us because by the past, we had always some problems to play against this type of line-up (look at Mexico, who is playing the 3-5-2 too). And here the stamina aspect is at my eyes really important if we want to counter them because their players are fully fit and really fast with and without the ball. (Offensively and defensively).
The key will be to see our midfield join the attack and not let our 3 strikers alone up front. We’ll need to play as a block and counter them as an unit. The croatian legs will be really heavy but this is our only chance to take a result from this match.
Plus Harry Kane is actually my favorite player out of our NT, and we need to be really worried about him because we can’t let him 2cm front of him. This guy is clearly a lethal weapon and he is able to score with both foot, header, make the call, the right passes for his lads etc…
This will be really tough for me to see our NT playing against some players from my favorite team who is Tottenham…”

“I love England football team but I hope my dear Croatia will reach the final..and I actually think we are going to play better than England om Wednesday”

“England will only get better..they have a shit of youngsters coming through ..their day will come soon..like at Euro 2020.”

“players are very tired…defence is weak, 2 goals from Russia, 1 goal from Denmark.”

“Not sure if they will have any legs left for England as they wasted so much energy beating Denmark and Russia teams they should have beaten in 90 minutes based on the big difference in quality.”

“Players are tired physically and mentally but hopefully they will have enough strength to beat the English. Dalic had a bad plan against Russia going 4-2-4 system. As soon as Brozovic came on Modric played higher up the field giving russian defense all kinds of problems. Dalic must play a 3 man midfield against England. Let them have the ball and try to break us down. England wants to play on the counter to use there speed they don’t have any natural playmakers in midfield. We can beat England for sure just need to play smart and must be organized on set pieces.”

“I guess Corluka and Lovren will partner up and Vida will be moved to RB. The only good thing here is it gives us an additional player who can clear set pieces, which brings me to my next point. England love their set pieces. Please for the love of God defend them well. I dont care how tired you are. Put yourself in front of someone, bother them, just dont let them have a free go like the second goal we conceded vs Russia.”

“I say it before every game no matter whom we play against, Luka will be the best player on the field.
Him and Rakitic will control the midfield…I don’t care how much the english run around like chickens with their heads off and pressing them, these two will be our main advantage.
We need to be ready for their set pieces. I watched two of their games partially, and on both their centre backs Stones and Maquire came flying in with thundering header goals. These two are big/strong and fearless in the air and we need to be ready. Yesterday’s goal in ot, our defending was horrific, Mandzo in particular just stood there (yes I realize he was dead but he has to do better).
If there ever was a game for Perisic to stand up and deliver, its this. He has to be aggressive and a bit selfish and take his man on to open things up.
What an opportunity awaits us. 90 minutes to play the game of our lives, and we play next Sunday for a shot at the WC.”

“Croatia are the better side. I think they will control the midfield and win. Shit , I have been saying this since day one that Croatia are going to the final. on a srs note, England has a hot keeper going in and they do have Kane .Sterling does open things up with his speed…and he is due to score a goal!!”

“After 20 years of waiting this new semifinals.
They play out of spite also, because of all those affairs with tax, false testimonies, contracts, Zdravko and Zoran Mamic. So that they show, we are nice guys.
England already thinks that they are in the final.”

“Yup they are so arrogant. This will definitely motivate our players.”

“Should be a great game regardless of the result. But i do hope we beat those Brits. Their media will probably talk alot of smack against us so that will give us an extra boost. Do we go into this game as underdogs?”

“we are the underdogs, which kinda plays into our advantage if the English play that way as we are much better on the counter (see Argentina match)”

“I hope we fckn destroy the Englezi… not sure about you guys but I’m disgusted in their whining and diving etc. A real turnoff to say the least.”

“The only thing coming home is England’s team empty-handed.
Croatia will go to the finals, we were the best in our group and we play better against “big teams”.” “Sorry England, the cup wont be coming home”

“The only thing that’s coming home is England with the 4th place”

“Small country 4,5 million people, huge england 65 million people. If croatia win, you have to delete premier league”

“I hope the coach will put the second team against England to rest the first team for the final!”

“Croatia is definitely knocking England out. The english football has gotten lucky by either playing weeklings in the tournament, or having those lucky moments.”

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““Heja Sverige!!!! We will knock out England!!! “

“Isn’t God great, they say a week in politics is a long time, 2 weeks in football is a lifetime, lol! Bring on England, we are ready for them. Come on Sweden! “

“Historically, England has always had major problems with Sweden. Hopefully even now on Saturday”

“It’s coming home, footballs coming home! To Sweden!”

“ I really wanted a Sweden v England QF. Can’t wait for Saturday”

“Oh my God, don’t let this fairy tale run out. We want more!”

“England went through by a crossbar hit and they’re talking as if they’ve won the thing” “Sweden can beat this team”

“There wasn’t much creativity from England in the last 45 against Colombia”

“It’s all about how to mentally tackle different scenarios. Against Colombia I knew an England that had a little bit of an extension. Mentally, Sweden is probably stronger if we end up in a disadvantage plus we have Robin Olsen.”

“Difference between England’s World Cup team and ours is that England can change its way of playing to change the match picture while Sweden does not want/time it, and soon the final whistle goes.”

“Sweden has the possibility with teamwork and hard work. But it’s going to be harder now to withstand individual superstars the closer we come to the finals. England has a lot of really good players who can decide on their own. Think it’s the edge game that determines.”

“Southgate is right to try to present the question, but England will still underestimate Sweden! With English eyes, a loss would be a catastrophe”

“Well England did beat France in the qualifications, eliminated the Netherlands then Italy then beat Mexico before getting rid of the reigning champions Germany, just to easily navigate past world 6^th ranked Switzerland. Oh Wait, that wasn’t England, that was Sweden….And England defeated who? Scotland you say. Panama. Oh”

“The talk goes hot in England right now about how “simple” their national team will get it against a defensive Sweden.”

“A tactic used to excuse every very narrow win by England is to accuse the other team of cheating. . Tunisia also suffered the same vile accusations and let’s not pretend upper-cutting and studs down the heels England are Boy-Scouts. “

“I’ve been a big fan of Swedish football for many years since living in Stockholm & call Sverige my #1 team. Of course want England to do well as well, but everything that goes with Eng, the arrogance & lack of sportsmanship all round whenever they win is distasteful.”

“”Dear Sweden, have we told you how much we love you lately? Knock out England and we will love you forever. Greetings Scotland “. We Love you too Scottland, you are not actors on the pitch.”

“totally stunned by the amazing World Cup support from people outside Sweden. Thank you so much, it means the world to us! Hope you’ll all be behind us against England on Saturday! “

“Classic from the media to believe that Sweden is “popular” with neutrals. Wales and Scotland have hated England since Jesus walked in short trousers.”

“It is well crass so that Scots, people from Wales and Ireland hold on to all the opponents of England more than they like Sweden”

“I met a very nice group from Manchester in a bar in Nice. I told them that I wanted Iceland to smash them. They laughed & said they understood my rationale, given the behaviour of so many England fans. I feel for the decent, friendly saes fans who get tarred with the same brush.”

“We must end the trend of mentioning matches between countries/clubs with no spaces before and after the hyphen. It’s Sweden-England, not Sweden-England. They haven’t teamed up.”

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  “5 days is plenty of recovery time for James. He will be fine and we will win.”

“My only concern is James over working himself. He needs to be as well rested as possible even though Quintero can play his role easily. Its frustrating that we only got to really experience both of them against poland.
England’s style of play does open up more, perhaps more than what Poland was but they’re likely not going to defend as they won’t see us as a threat and have no worries playing regularly.”

“For sure this will also be the toughest test for Quintero. I hope they show him films of Iniesta playing against English clubs over years. needs to protect his body and think fast. They are gonna kick the living crap out of his shins all game.”

“I think Davinson is going to shine against England. He’s comfortable facing EPL players and knows every player very well. This will be a great opportunity for him to showcase leadership of the back line.
I just hope that we make it out of the first half without having to use up a sub!! “

“I believe I saw this correctly, that England is at the bottom with tackles made.
If so, they won’t be as physical with us(not they don’t need to, plenty of talent to win out) so perhaps this is a chance we can use against them.
Got to get them confuse and hopefully score early. I don’t think the handle pressure very well at this moment.”

“Battle tested before the knockout isn’t easy to gain. But Colombia is much more tested, physically, mentally…. We essential had two knockout games already….
The fact(atm) that England isn’t a true physical threat, they are more finese with speed n power, so our guys are actually more of physical influence if they chose too.
We got to weather the storm early on, hopefully strike first and change the momentum to our favor.”

“We have to be careful with England’s speed. They are similar to Japan in that aspect. But they are weak at the back and a naive team of young players who have never played in an international tournament.
We should have an advantage over them from that alone. “

“Is crazy to think that our squad have more experience than the English squad since we reached qf last wc and they went out in group stage” “England is not going to play defensively and we all know that is good for Colombia since we tend to struggle with teams that bunker” “at this moment, i’m thinking or feeling that a little street ball play by our big 3 in the offensive end can really cause trouble for the English…”

“Our record against Europe since we got Pekerman has been promising; undefeated so far.
Belgium – Colombia 0 – 2 – 2013
Netherlands – Colombia 0 – 0 – 2014
Colombia – Greece 3 – 0 – 2014
Spain – Colombia 2 – 2 – 2017
France – Colombia 2 – 3 – 2018
Poland – Colombia 0 – 3 – 2018”

“The two things that give me the most confidence going into this game are:
1) This is the youngest English team since 1962 They have not been battle tested. They have not gone through the trials and tribulations. They do not have the chemistry and cohesion of our team. When the going gets tough in a pressure situation we do not know how this young team will respond and who will lead them out of the bad situations.
2) Pekerman >Southgate. He knows the pulse of his team like a doctor and has “been there done that” when it comes to the World Cup knockouts.
Southgate is still learning on the job how to be a Senior National team manager and may not know what to do in pressure situations. This kind of match will come down to tactical adjustments especially after the halftime break. Pekerman has the obvious advantage in this chess match.”

“Im afraid of lingaard, welbbeck, loftus check, rashford, arnold……….nah isnt true”

“if we can shut down sterling and Kane, we will do fine. From the opening whistle we have to bring it England and take them out of their game and make it our game to play.
If that means playing rough on those two I’m all for it. Barrios, Mojica and James are our only yellow cards so they need to be mindful – which is why I see Roca starting instead of Barrios.
Sterling is dangerous with his pace and Kane inside the 18 worries me too bc he has 3 goals from non-penalties and is in good form – the quality of opposition gives me some relief though. Shut down those two and control the pace of the game from the opening whistle and we’ll do fine. “

“I would love for us to knock england out. I can’t stand them”

“I just want to beat those cocky mofos lol. You always know if there’s an Englishman in the room, he’s either very loud, very drunk, or both. “

“funny enough most Englishman I’ve ever met have been extremely soft spoken”

“I know plenty of lovely Brits. Truth is that our players have yet to shine there as they have in other major leagues so less informed fans probably don’t realize the threat we possess. Davinson is just starting to make an impact there.
The key to this match for them will be psychological. If you think we had a complex for years imagine being those guys – having the world’s most expensive and watched league in the world and yet having whole teams fielded without your players and struggling to have a major impact in international tournaments. They’ve struggled for years under the burden of that pressure and their media is awful to them.
This is a VERY talented young English team and their youth and inexperience seems to have shielded them from the gloom that marked recent sides – but they are still kids and they play very aggressively. So far they’ve played two of the weakest teams in the tournament and then sat their stars when they had to play a real threat in Belgium. They are getting attacked by their own press as cowards – who knows how that effects them.
The first 15 Ms of the game will be vital. If we could get an early goal we can get in their heads, but even moreso if we can hit them on counter well and get in their heads we’ve got a fine chance. We’ve already been through a crucible at the tournament and came through it – we have to make this game theirs and hope they can’t. I think Davinson will have great insight into marking Kane. I worry about Mojica with their wingers though… “

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“Let’s hope we’ll have a fair game without any injuries. No matter who wins, both teams are having a great start. Thursday will be out first big test”

“I find all the most important countries still playing moderately. Belgium and England are the exceptions.”

“Only Belgium and England have convinced so far”

“I expect Belgium-England to be the best match so far from the World Cup”

“I would like to see Belgium take England on Thursday, so that I am super proud and can walk round many areas through London”

“Aiming for the runners-up spot in our group might be a good idea.
Group winner’s path … Colombia (R16) => Brazil/Germany (QF) => France? (SF) => Spain? (final)
Runners-up ……………. Japan (R16) => Mexico/Switzerland (QF) => Spain? (SF) => France? (final)
Ahead of the World Cup I was betting on a Spain v. France final but so far they have yet to impress … Belgium going all the way would be simply lovely though … let’s see what happens. “

“Want to finish second so we get on the easier bracket as Germany may finish second place lol”

“Better to come in second, easier opposition”

“ To be fair. I really wan’t to avoid Colombia but what if England also want to avoid Colombia? – Here, you score. – No, you score! – No, no I insist. Score !!” “So Belgium – England promising to become an ’own goal and trying to get the opponent booked’ fest.”

“Soon Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, France, Brazil and Germany will be on one side of the schedule. And then Belgium or England.”

“Lots of changes expected
Lukaku (ankle injury)
Hazard (calf injury)
Mertens (knock ankle)
Friendly game?”

”Belgium had both the lowest sprint distance and the least distance covered (of all teams). Not much effort, comfortable wins in the end.”

“Lukaku and Ronaldo is deserving of the Golden Boot.If kane wins it will be the most undeserving!! “

“Lukaku scored all 4 from open play” “I would mark Kane’s goals as 2 penalties and 2 goals. England players were offsides before that soft penalty call on Lingard “

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“24. 4 million Panamanians praying for a great game and a miracle. Anything can happen.”

“If Mexico can beat Germany, Panama can beat Belgium and England. Who said fear?”

“England can not bring their money onto the pitch”

“Panama must go out to score before England, trusting in God can be achieved.”

“Today’s dream was the best, I dreamt that Panama was putting some goals to England in the last few minutes.”

“if Panama beats England I’m going to tattoo the map with the flag.“

“If Panama wins England I make the marginal hairline in the eyebrow”

“The icing on Maradona’s cake would be for Panama to beat England.”

“Panama proved to be a worthy team against Belgium and the defeat was a beautiful victory. I’m proud”

“Panama’s debut was dignified. The differences are very large (in every sense) and that is why it happened what was likely to happen. Not to forget the 1st half where Belgium was not as comfortable as I thought it would be. Now to prepare for England”

“if Panama plays as he played against Belgium, it will be a lot of work for England!” “A World Cup debut is a lot of pressure. We did very well, with dignity. I think we will play the next two matches better.”

“We have already fulfilled a dream”

“Panama is a baby if compared to England that is an adult. Do not require him to run, to stop crawling and a few steps is enough. Then who stops that little boy. Up Panama.”

“I have faith in Panama. England I saw it very loose against Tunisia”

“England are solid”

“Panama and Honduras are at its lowest level. A shame, otherwise Honduras was in the World Cup or Panama would be giving more battle”

“Crisis in England HQ as the media of the country released a photo of the sheet with the escalation and tactical planning pro game against Panama.”

“England team technician Gareth Southgate says Dele Ali will be unlikely to play”

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“The presence of Belgium and England as two powerful traditional teams in the history of the World Cup in this group makes the entry of the playoffs not easy for us”

“We have to learn the lesson from Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia who played against moderate teams and lost. England is stronger be awarrre !!! The game is 90’min + .. never give up !! Allez tunisie !!”

“Egypt lost, Morocco, lost Saudi Arabia. lost Tunisia win? But England is strong.”

“England is strong but hopefully Tunisia win”

“ I promise you the players will believe against England and when you believe it is 50% of the job”

“I know that Tunisia is worth a surprise and whipping England. We are the best Arabic team”

“Tunisia will beat Belgium and England you can screenshot this”

“We will take a 5-0”

“Admit defeat England”

“I expect the Tunisian team to qualify in this group. England,  Panama tie and win Belgium probably”

“It will be England and Tunisia that will pass through to the 2^nd round”

“Tunisia will fulfill the surprise of England if Allah wills”

“Wahbi Khazri 7th best Ligue 1 player according to French Football magazine and Tunisia 14th world team according to the FIFA World Cup rankings. The lights are green for the match against England”

“Harry Kane is more expensive than the whole team of Tunisia”

“Tunisia should rejoice, England has summoned Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck”

“The key to victory is no space + possession + bcp easy goal.”

“This will be the most bouncing game of the 1^st round”

“We have shown that we are capable of doing beautiful things. We have a good team, a good generation and a quality coach. I hope we will be able to go as far as possible and it goes through a good performance against England.”

“ I hope the players will be paid tribute before the duel against England! They qualified us after 12 years of absence, we will offer you the second round”

“Unlike the Arab teams, Iceland has held the blow physically and that is the difference. I hope that Tusnisa are successful to stand out on this plan Monday against England”

“I hope Tunisia saw this game of Iceland PCK Monday against England, will have to fight like this as a team on all the balloons*”

“Tunisia will automatically lose from England and Belgium, both of which are potentially catastrophic.”

“Morocco are better than us in terms of performance, tactics and artistic value and this group is very difficult with the presence of England and Belgium”

*That’s what it translated to anyway

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