Whoever wins this match can look forward to a third-place play-off. I'm just as confident as I was of beating Sweden.
I just want the S/F to be as comfortable as possible for us, playing Russia will be an unknown quantity for us I feel, i'd prefer a normal atmos against Croatia, personally.
Other than the second half against Argentina (which was excellent), have Croatia done anything at this world cup? Even in their opening win against Nigeria, they were very poor - which is why Roy Keane laid right into them, despite having won 2-0. Unless they click into gear, then for the good of the world cup, Russia need to be in the SF. But putting my England hat on, I couldn't care about the good of the world cup.
I’ve never understood the 3rd place playoff myself. You’ve been knocked out and are evidently disappointed/pissed off/demoralised but you still have to wait around a few more days to play in a game in which is effectively pointless and changes nothing.
Croatia's old, and at times it shows. Don't think it's coincidental that they played their best football against another old team in Argentina. They have enough classy players to be dangerous, but England's pace of play is a bad matchup for them.
Starting to want croatia to go through as they seems to be taking a beating. if they get through im not sure how many players they will have left at this rate.
