China Daily

Southgate just might channel Churchill to inspire young squad

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MOSCOW — It’s time for Gareth Southgate to come up with a big speech of his own.

After England gave up a tying goal to Brazil in first-half stoppage time in the 2002 World Cup quarterfin­als, Southgate felt coach Sven-Goran Eriksson lacked oratorial inspiratio­n in the dressing room at halftime.

Now 47-year-old former England internatio­nal Southgate is leading the team, which plays Croatia on Wednesday (Thursday, Beijing time) in England’s first World Cup semifinal in 28 years. The match is riveting the Land of Hope and Glory, which won its only title at home in 1966.

“Probably 18 months ago I talked to them about if you have success with England, it will be so much bigger than anything you can imagine, and I think that is probably starting to register with them now,” Southgate said after Saturday’s 2-0 quarterfin­al victory over Sweden.

Southgate, who didn’t play against Brazil, took a swipe at Eriksson after the 2-1 loss, comparing the cool-speaking Swede to a Conservati­ve Party opposition leader widely regarded as dull.

“We needed (Winston) Churchill, but we got (former Tory leader) Iain Duncan Smith,” an unnamed defender, later identified as Southgate, was quoted as saying in a 2004 book by Joe Lovejoy.

No word whether Southgate will offer his own version of “blood, sweat, toil and tears”.

With the coach keeping his strategies close to his now-famous waistcoat, a young roster led by Harry Kane hopes to succeed where Gary Lineker, Michael Owen, Alan Shearer, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney failed.

England is ranked 12th in the world and Croatia 20th. The winner will advance to Sunday’s final, which will also be played at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, against France or Belgium.

Croatia lost its only previous semifinal match to host France in 1998. It beat Denmark in the last 16 and host Russia in the quarterfin­als this year, becoming only the second team with consecutiv­e shootout wins in the same World Cup since Argentina defeated Yugoslavia and Italy in 1990.

“It won’t be easy for us,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said. “We will look for the best solutions ahead the match, considerin­g we have a few players with minor issues after the match against Russia.”

Way back when

In England’s last World Cup semifinal, Andreas Brehme’s 60th-minute shot deflected off Paul Parker and looped over goalkeeper Peter Shilton to put West Germany ahead.

England equalized when Parker’s cross bounced off Jurgen Kohler and fell to Lineker, who beat goalkeeper Bodo Illgner with a shot just inside the far post.

In the shootout, Stuart Pearce was stopped by Illgner on England’s fourth attempt, Olaf Thon converted for a 4-3 lead before Chris Waddle blazed over.

Checkered history

Croatia went ahead in the 1998 semifinals only 26 seconds into the second half when Aljosa Asanovic split the defense with a pass and legendary striker Davor Suker scored his fifth goal of the tournament.

Lilian Thuram tied it a minute later after dispossess­ing Zvonimir Boban and exchanging passes with Youri Djorkaeff. Thuram then curled in a 70th-minute winner.

Colors

Croatia will wear its alternate navy-and-black jerseys and black shorts for the fifth straight match; England will wear white shirts and white shorts.

The Croats have not worn their white-and-red checkerboa­rd jerseys since their opener against Nigeria.

England wore all red against Tunisia, Colombia and Sweden, and white shirts with blue shorts against Panama and Belgium.

The Three Lions also wore white in the 1966 and 1990 semifinals.

Head to head

Croatians played for Yugoslavia before the now-defunct republic split in 1990. England has four wins, two losses and one draw in the matchup, including a 4-2 victory in the group stage of the 2004 European Championsh­ip.

The teams have not met since qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, when England won 4-1 in Zagreb and 5-1 at Wembley.

England goalkeeper Paul Robinson’s memorable botched clearance gifted Croatia an own-goal in a 2-0 European Championsh­ip qualifying loss in 2006.

The following year, another goalkeepin­g howler, this time from Scott Carson, saw Niko Kranjcar’s shot bounce over the line for the opening goal as Croatia won 3-2 at Wembley, causing England to miss Euro 2008.

Then-England coach Steve McClaren, who clutched a large red-and-blue umbrella on the sidelines during the match and was dubbed “the wally with the brolly” by a British tabloid, was fired the next day.

Turkish ref

Cuneyt Cakir of Turkey will referee his second straight World Cup semifinal, after being the head official for Argentina’s shootout win over the Netherland­s in 2014.

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