Croatia and England were not considered outsiders to even win this World Cup yet one of them are on the brink of reaching the finals and there is a real chance that the winner of this semifinal might be the winner of the competition.<\/p>\n
Croatia beat Nigeria, Argentina and Iceland in their group game to set up a round of 16 game against Denmark. They needed penalties to beat the Danes and Ivan Rakitic scored the final spot kick that helped them qualify for the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
They met Russia in the quarterfinals and needed penalties to knock the hosts out after they had played a dramatic 2-2 draw by the end of extra time.<\/p>\n
Ivan Rakitic stepped up to score the winning penalty again to set up this match, it would be interesting to see if they would need penalties to reach the finals again.<\/p>\n
England have played some of the best football in this competition and they are the highest scorers from set pieces as they head into this game.<\/p>\n
The Three Lions won their first two group games against Tunisia and Panama before losing to Belgium in their final group game.<\/p>\n
They beat Colombia on penalties in the round of 16, but did not need extra time in their quarterfinal game against Sweden.<\/p>\n
They beat the Swedes 2-0 to set up this clash and they have raised up hopes in the hearts of every Briton that this could be their year, they can win this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Croatia and England were not considered outsiders to even win this World Cup yet one of them are on the brink of reaching the finals and there is a real chance that the winner of this semifinal might be the winner of the competition. Croatia beat Nigeria, Argentina and Iceland in their group game to set up a round of 16 game against Denmark. They needed penalties to beat the Danes and Ivan Rakitic scored the final spot kick that helped them qualify for the quarterfinals. They met Russia in the quarterfinals and needed penalties to knock the hosts out after they had played a dramatic 2-2 draw by the end of extra time. Ivan Rakitic stepped up to score the winning penalty again to set up this match, it would be interesting to see if they would need penalties to reach the finals again. England have played some of the best football in this competition and they are the highest scorers from set pieces as they head into this game. The Three Lions won their first two group games against Tunisia and Panama before losing to Belgium in their final group game. They beat Colombia on penalties in the round of 16, but did not need extra time in their quarterfinal game against Sweden. They beat the Swedes 2-0 to set up this clash and they have raised up hopes in the hearts of every Briton that this could be their year, they can win this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-match-preview"],"yoast_head":"\n