Diego Maradona Exclusive: Playing aerial balls will not work for Southgate men against Sweden | Football News

NEW DELHI: Confidence in England skyrockets after the team ended a long wait to win a penalty shootout in World Cup, crushing Colombia in a tight and decadent match to Moscow. But Sweden has a habit of upsetting probabilities, especially against England, having lost only one of the previous eight competitions.

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In his exclusive column for the Times of India, former Argentine captain Diego Maradona wrote: "This stage of the competition is arrival, where there is little choice between On the field, such differences do not count, because the desire to outdo is usually the same in each team.It can be said that England and Croatia have a slight advantage over Sweden and Russia, which adds an extra spark to the attack, but we have often seen messy calculations … There is no question of predicting a winner in the quarterfinals. "

Thrilled by an exciting young team and a potential draw against Sweden in the quarter-finals on Saturday, English fans are beginning to believe that they can end a 52-year wait to win the World Cup.

"England hopes to win the trophy after 52 years, it is a balanced team, with the intention and discipline, most of the players are young and it does not have a lot of money. There are no superstars in the team.They have already done something that other English teams could not do – they won a World Cup tie-break under Gareth Southgate, the only one in the world. England played entertaining football, they are very compact for the attack, the wingmen bring a lot of thrust and, most often, it is planned to feed the two attackers from the flanks, against Panama and the United States. Sweden also has big defenders to take up aerial balls inside the playing field. Maybe Southgate will develop another strategy and find another way to surprise its rivals ", added Maradona.

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England, winner of the World Cup in 1966, has already seduced an audience unhappy with a premature exit to Brazil four years ago and an embarrassing defeat in Iceland at Euro 2016. Gareth Southgate's men have attracted more viewers for their matches in Russia than the royal wedding in May, with 23.6 million tuning for the shooting against Colombia.

"Whatever it may be, it will not be easy against Sweden, still strong team, who has surpassed big names like the Netherlands and Italy to reach Russia." Coach Janne Anderson prefers 4-4-2, I do not think that they will change ploy, unless England scores early, the Swedes will defend with numbers and see what that they can do during the breaks. this plan, you have to look at Russia to find out how home support can galvanize an average team for big actions, of course, their trip has been much more than that, but there will be 45,000 more screams for them ", Maradona has written.

Croatia has found itself in the losing side in previous meetings with the host nation of the World Cup, but is thrilled to face Russia in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The teams met at Fisht stadium in Sochi, both teams having reached this stage thanks to victories in shots in goal in the round of 16. Russia surprised Spain in 2010, before Croatia eliminated Denmark.

"Croatia's offensive flair must be ready for the battle against a resilient unit, the Russians allowed Spain to play up to the penalty area and put an end to it." This requires a lot of mental strength, concentration and discipline, so expect Russia to show more … Croatia is one of those teams that had fun with their lovely football, and Luka Modric, who is driving the car.The team has other people who understand their roles and who work diligently: Ivan Rakitic, Mario Mandzukic are performers able to handle difficult situations, but they have a task Different to achieve.In spite of the gap between rankings and rankings, it will always take time, "said Maradona.