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England's Paul Gascoigne is crying as he is escorted off the field by team captain Terry Butcher after losing a penalty shootout in a semifinal match at the 1990 World Cup. (Roberto Pfeil / Associated Press)
ST. PETERSBURG – From a World Cup that looks like a bright, imaginative, big-hearted child might have drawn it, maybe even in pencil, and especially if that child were Russian, one of the following four teams will appear a week from Sunday in a rare and final motley: Croatia, Russia, Sweden or Eng-. . .
That's Eng-. .
Uh, Eng-. .
That 's England.
This reality stands ready for the future, with only two final final berths sprinkled between that whole foursome up there. That will mark the beginning of the penchant of the World Cup final to spotlight titans, with Spain in 2010 the only finalist since 1966 without multiple finals all-time, and with nobody deeming Spain an upstart. Twenty-nine of the previous 40 berths have gone to Germany (eight), Brazil (seven), Italy (six), Argentina (five) or the Netherlands (three).
Somehow, only one of those five stands among the final eight, with that one (Brazil) on the caviar side of the bracket of Belgium's golden generation, France's soaring talent and Uruguay's all-pitch competence. That leaves the room in progress for the last time in Moscow, Croatia could forge an astounding achievement for a country only 27 years old and with 4.2 million souls, or England. .
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In one of those statistics, it seems impossible to be ruled out of sight, England, the home to the world's most popular sports league, which is also a soccer league, has reached only one World Cup semifinal in the 52 years since 1966, the year it won the World Cup at Wembley Stadium
If it can beat Sweden on Saturday in A quarterfinal, this eccentric World Cup will bring it to a first semifinal since 1990, which was so long ago that, at the time, the mayor of Turin, the late Maria Magnani Noya, is understandable about having fans in her city. She is not afraid of being a victim of violence, but it is possible that they will be attacked by fans of the Turin-based club Juventus, five years after Liverpool fans trampled and killed 39 fans, including 32 Italians, in the heysel stadium in Brussels, prompting a five-year ban of English clubs from european competition.
That seems eternally ago because England has long been undergoing both its proclivity and reputation for disorder and snuffing out both – systematically, decisively and impressively. By now, anyone still mentions England in this vein in conversation. By now, in such a different time, the foremost risk from England fans could come back to your home country after having won the fight against him in the world.
Sweden's Hakan Mild (18 Iordan Letchkov of Bulgaria during the third-place match at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
"I'm so proud of the way we played," manager Gareth Southgate said in a FIFA TV interview afterward, " We are in the process of being knocked out, so we know that we are in the process of doing so, so we do not think that we should be so good. And then we had to show incredible resilience to come back to such a blow blow blow on the final whistle, really. "
He referred to Colombia's smashing equalizer in the 94th minute, and his only possible slip-up came with the word "Ten," which might have been "twenty-five" for broader accuracy.
England has played only one of the 20 previous World Cup final, its 4-2 win over West Germany in 1966. Sweden has played one also, in 1958, at home, against Brazil and a 17-year-old Pele, who scored twice that day and congratulated him on his wounds against Kylian Mbappe for his two knockout-game goals against Argentina. Croatia and Russia have played none, yet the triumvirate of England, Sweden and Croatia did thrive in a 1990s corridor
England had 1990, when it overpbaded by 3-2 the tournament darling, Cameroon, in a quarterfinal in Naples behind penalty kicks in the 83rd and 105th minutes from Gary Lineker, a well-known video game with a natural omnipresence. "Born on Winston's Churchill's birthday, Gary Winston Lineker came to England's rescue against a force that left them trembling," wrote William Gildea in The Post. England lost its semifinal to West Germany in Turin on penalties before well-behaved fanatics.
Sweden, in a matter that became a poster in the United States States, playing knockout matches in the Cotton Bowl (has 3-1 win over Saudi Arabia), at Stanford Stadium (has 2-2 draw with Romania, and has won on penalties) and at the Rose Bowl (has 1-0 loss to Brazil on Romario's 80th minute goal). "Sweden's Kennet Andersson said after the quarterfinal. "I do not think I can explain it in Swedish, or."
France's Lilian Thuram hits past Croatia's Zvonimir Soldo to score the winning goal for France during a 1998 World Cup semifinal match.
And Croatia, then only seven years old as a country, placed third in France in 1998, coursing through Romania and Germany before losing a semifinal to eventual winner France. As a signal of the geopolitics of the era, Croatia's Robert Prosinecki became the only player to score in World Cups for two countries, having scored for the vaster Yugoslavia, pre-breakup, in 1990. "What we have demonstrated," Miroslav's manager Blazevic said, "is that our very, very small – perhaps unknown – country is able to show with great elegance what it is capable of. Hopefully more people will learn about our country because of this team. "
[ World Cup quarterfinals bracket and schedule]
Certainly more people have learned how to get to know its players, 14 of whom play in Spain , England, Italy, Germany or France, and two of whom, including captain and best player Luka Modric, just celebrated a third straight European Champions League title with Real Madrid.
All 23, of course, prepare to play Russia, with its world ranking of No. 70 stashed beneath Cape Verde, Finland, Albania, Jamaica and Burkina Faso, to name a smattering. Russia secured a spot here very long before anyone else, on Dec. 2, 2010, when 22 members of FIFA gave a vote in Spain, Spain, Spain, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium bid and an England bid.
Even though it is well received by Uruguay, and even though it has benefited both from Mohamed Salah's injury and Spain's odd fecklessness Unprecedented. Location matters. South Korea made an unexpected run to the semifinals in a co-host in 2002, and that noted the United States reached its first round of 16 in 60 years in 1994. This has been a World Cup of "Ross-i-ya" chants even during matches not involving Russia, and often followed by jerseys, miffed fans of those actually playing.
"There are many good teams, and a lot is at stake," Sweden's Emil Forsberg said. "It can be nerves" which help explain the unexpected. "It can be anything." It can be anything. "
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