England have gone one step closer to achieving the ultimate dream of lifting the coveted World Cup trophy today, (July 7) after beating Sweden 2-0 to reach the semi-finals.
This will be the first time England have reached a semi-final in a World Cup tournament since Italia ’90.
The Three Lion’s secured their victory thanks to goals from Harry Maguire, in the first half, and Dele Alli in the second.
The first half started cautiously, until the 30th minute, when Harry Maguire scored a header from an Ashley Young corner.
After the first goal, the England team were all over the Swedish side, making lots of opportunities to double their lead.
In the second half, England finally grabbed their second, this time coming from Dele Alli, who connected with a cross from Jesse Lingard in the 58th minute.
The Three Lions entered this tournament with one of the youngest and most inexperienced squads and expectations were relatively low.
However, Southgate has given the team – and by extension, the country – renewed pride and vigour, a feeling not felt, arguably since Euro ’96.
After making it out of the group stages, beating Tunisia and Panama (before losing to Belgium), they reached the second round knockout stages where they finally exorcised their demons and beat Colombia in a nail-biting penalty shootout.
Now, with Sweden put to rest in today’s quarter-final, they can now focus on preparing for a semi-final clash with either Croatia or host nation Russia.
Gareth Southgate’s men will find out who they’ll be facing later this evening, with Russia v Croatia starting at 7:00pm.
Whisper it quietly but I think football is coming home!
You can watch the Croatia v Russia match live on ITV, with live coverage starting from 6:00 PM.
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