ENGLISH SUMMER IN RUSSIA?
The Fifa World Cup is down to the last four. After the quarterfinals on Saturday, it’s an all-European affair going forward with England being the surprise element in Russia. Here is the semifinal match-ups:
English fish and chips against Croatia’s famous fish risotto. France’s vin et fromage versus Belgian beer and waffles. Players nicknamed Slab Head, Rocky and 37.
Welcome to the final four of a new-look World Cup, perhaps the most improbable of soccer’s 21 championships.
Host Russia left in tears Saturday night, jilted like a suitor at the end of a Pushkin poem when it tied Croatia late in extra time only to lose the last quarterfinal on penalty kicks.
Germany’s Teutonic efficiency departed earlier, along with Brazil’s yellow-shirted samba style and Spain’s tiki-taka pass-a-thon.
Messi’s Argentina and Ronaldo’s Portugal couldn’t get past the round of 16. Italy’s Azzurri didn’t even earn an invite.
“Whoever was the favourites to win, the big teams, are home,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said through a translator.
“Those who are hard-working, who are compact, who are united and who are well-organised, they are here in Russia, and this is the character of the four teams remaining in the tournament.” Celebrer la nouvelle.
First up Les Bleus vs. De Rode Duivels on Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, a matchup of Western European neighbours.
Then The Three Lions vs. Vatreni the following night in Moscow.
Is football coming home or is the title going somewhere new?
“We’re in a World Cup semifinal. Whether we’re in the top four in the world is something we would still have to prove,” England manager Gareth Southgate said. “It will be a sign to all clubs that, whether it’s in England or abroad, that English players can play, that we’ve got players with super technique.”
By the long-maligned Fifa rankings, these matchups are unlikely.
Belgium is ranked third in the world, France seventh, England 12th and Croatia 20th.
England’s team includes a colorful nickname. Jamie Vardy dubbed national team and Leicester teammate Harry Maguire Slab Head during training camp and punked him during an interview.
Vardy joined reporters and asked the final question. “It’s Jamie Vardy from the Vardy Express. How big is the diameter of your head?”
When Maguire scored the goahead goal in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Sweden, his shout of joy was so intense it looked like a shriek of pain. Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku earned the Rocky nickname at Manchester United, where teammates compared his work ethic to that of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa.
Kylian Mbappe, the 19-year-old French forward sensation, was nicknamed 37 by teammates after they said he reached 37 kph during a sprint against Portugal — Fifa clocked it at a slightly more leisurely 32.4 kph.
No matter which team wins, the final four is a triumph of the Big Five — Europe’s top professional leagues. Eighty-one of 92 players on semifinal rosters are with clubs in England (40), Spain (12), France (12), Germany (nine) and Italy (eight).
All of England’s players are home based, with 22 in the Premier League and one in the second-tier League Championship. They face many of the world’s best each week.
“The reason that foreign players play in the Premiership is because we pay the most money, so that is very straightforward,” Southgate said.
France has nine from its Ligue 1, six from La Liga, five from the Premier League, two from the Bundesliga and one from Serie A.
Nearly half of Belgium’s roster — 11 — was in the Premier League season, joined by three from Germany, two apiece from France, Spain and China, and one each in France, Italy and Scotland. Defender Leander Dendoncker in the lone player to stay at home, with Anderlecht.
Croatia has six in Serie A, four each in La Liga and the Bundesliga, and one apiece in England, France, Austria, Belgium, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.
The only two from home are midfielder Filip Bradaric, whose sole appearance was as a secondhalf substitute in the group phase, and backup goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
Dalic hopes in a year of the outsider, the least-heralded team prevails. “We don’t want to stop. We will try to play our best game,” he said. “I trust us.” —
We’re in a World Cup semifinal. Whether we’re in the top four in the world is something we would still have to prove Gareth Southgate, England manager