On a dramatic night in Moscow’s Spartak Stadium, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made a key save from Carlos Bacca before Eric Dier’s spot-kick gave England their first-ever win on penalties at a World Cup at the fourth attempt – ending a jinx that has dogged them for so long.
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Germany, Argentina, Spain and Portugal have already been knocked out, with England hoping to make it past the quarter-finals this weekend. They have kept 19 clean sheets in 25 worldwide matches under coach Tite.
The quarter-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russian Federation is fast approaching and fans are eagerly waiting for their team to put their opposition to swords and march on.
As a soccer player and fan of 24 years and counting, I get excited about every World Cup-even the ones that the US men’s team can’t manage to qualify for (still too soon?).
They also play with two up front – usually Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez – which means they carry a big threat going forward too.
Wimbledon chief executive Richard Lewis said: “It has not been a discussion other than, “we are two o’clock and that’s it”.
He recovered and was available for the 2-0 win against Mexico in the round of 16, but coach Tite kept his replacement, Fagner, in the starting lineup.
A football match is a tense affair. “For me, there has to be another way”.
The full World Cup 2018 fixture schedule is included below, with timings, venues and TV channels included. An unstoppable force will collide with an immovable object when the free-flowing attack of France meets the unwavering defence of Uruguay in an enthralling contest.
The quarter finals of the 2018 World Cup get underway on Friday with five time world champions Brazil taking on high flying Belgium, while 1998 champions France play against South American side, Uruguay. After a gritty 1-0 victory over Switzerland in the knockout round opener, Sweden will face one of the more polished teams in England, coming off a shootout win over Colombia and reaching the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006.
Even Bank of England governor Mark Carney is getting swept up in the excitement, saying that if the Three Lions were to win the tournament for the first time since 1966, “it would be an unalloyed, unadulterated, absolute good”.
It has been an entertaining World Cup so far and the drama is set to continue on Friday as the quarter-finals get underway.
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Coach Gareth Southgate has urged his young squad to seize their chance. The familiar criticism that has plagued France of late – that the talent is there but the team is unable to put it together – could rear its ugly head again against a Uruguayan side that has easily gelled.
