Will Russia qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup?

Brazil and Uruguay stole. All – the World Cup is over. The European Championship begins. Only the representatives of our continent remained at the tournament. Today the places in the second semifinal will be played by Swedes and Brits, and later by Russians and Croats. Wait for the world. The yesterday's victory of the Belgian national team is confirmed by this.

It all starts in Samara at 17:00. Swedes play with the English. We must be honest, the Scandinavians at this point, few have waited. But they are beautiful: they came from the first place of the group where were the Germans, the South Koreans and the Mexicans, then they were stronger than the Swiss in normal time (1: 0).

Swedes are simple and rational guys. Play in 4-4-2 and make it as compact as possible. As a result, everything is more or less quiet behind, and there is Toivonen, Berg, well, and Forsberg, of course. The latter is a Scandinavian attempt to forget that Zlatan Ibrahimović is already in venerable age.

The Los Angeles Galaxy striker remembered before the match, referring to Englishman David Beckham: "Hey, Beckham, if England wins Sweden, I will pay you dinner anywhere in the world But if Sweden wins, you'll take me to IKEA and I'll buy anything I want, okay? " [19659002ThecaptainoftheEnglandteamquicklyfound: "If Sweden wins, I take you to IKEA you need something that is useful in your home in Los Angeles. But if England wins, you'll see our match at Wembley in our National Team T-shirt, and you'll be able to sample fish and chips during the break.

That's it.

If the match ends with a penalty shoot-out, the English should no longer be as scared as before … Before the previous meeting with Colombia, they never gagged born in the post-game lottery during all the time of the World Cup. With the championships of Europe was about the same sadness. Well, they won.

And in general, everything is Bodrenko. Harry Kane repeated the record of Tommy Lawton, who in 1939 scored for the national team in six straight games. And Jordan Pickford has become England's first goalkeeper since 1998, who has beaten a penalty in the post-match series. The previous time, it was done by David Seaman. He had a smart mustache and a champion landmark with Arsenal.

And now at the main event of the day with all due respect to the British and Swedes.

Russia raised football legs. The country was waiting for a repeat of the 2008 model, when the national team reached the semifinals of the European Championship and, in principle, waited. World Cup – the "flood" competition.

Now everyone in the Russian Federation is developing a mustache of hope and experience before confronting the Croats. In the previous match (very energy-consuming), the Spaniards were defeated. The main time is 1: 1. Extra time suffers and always 1: 1. The penalty – Igor Akinfeev finally becomes a legend, the world's largest country goes crazy.

The Russians did not play perfection, but the experts note the ability of the head coach to adapt to the opponent. In three and four rounds of the tournament (with the exception of the pogrom of Uruguay), it has turned out more or less not badly.

Croats will be much more difficult. First, the Croatians have Luka Modric from Madrid "Real". All agree that it is high time to recognize the greatness of the midfielder, involved in an enviable understanding of the game, wild endurance and universality.

Secondly, on average, the individual level of Croats is higher. Manjukic – "Juventus", Rakitic – "Barcelona", Lovren – "Liverpool". With all due respect, not "Spartacus", "Krasnodar" and "Dynamo". Third, the main Croatian Zlatko Dalich, as Stanislav Cherchesov, – the coach is flexible and actively changes the tactics of his team, adapting to the situation.

Russians and Croats are playing today in Sochi. The match will start at 21:00

Our channel in Telegram.

Quick communication with the editorial board: read the public discussion of Onliner and send us an email to Viber!