England and Croatia set-up a semi-final date on Saturday after successfully seing off Sweden and Russia respectively. The former recorded a comfortable 2-0 victory whereas the latter endured a tough challenge to progress via a 4-2 shoot-out win over the host nation.
Once again, England registered a goal from a set-piece with Harry Maguire being the scorer this time around. The Leicester City defender's feat meant that the Three Lions have now scored eight goals from set pieces in their five World Cup matches so far - the most by a team at a single campaign since Portugal in 1966.
Coming up against Gareth Southgate's men in the next knockout game, skipper of Croatia Luka Modric has admitted that his side is wary of the threat the opponent poses in the air. Having put in yet another Man of the Match-worthy performance in the win over Russia, the 32-year-old midfielder highlighted that they will prepare rigorously to face the strength of the English.
1 - Luka Modrić is the first player to attempt 100+ passes for Croatia in a World Cup game (89/102). Genius. #RUS #CRO #RUSCRO #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/6tMQjUsF1A
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) July 7, 2018
"We expect a very difficult, tight and demanding match against England, like every match at the World Cup," he told reporters after the game.
"We have to enjoy the moment and we then have to focus on England. I'm sure we will prepare well.
"We watched the game today and saw how good they are from dead-ball situations. We will have to improve on our set-piece defending between now and Wednesday as we conceded from one at the end of the game today."
