It's not coming home

The World Cup has entered the final straight with just three matches still to be played -- and that means we're one step closer to discovering who will be crowned our predictions king.

This campaign marks the first time England have reached a semi-final in the tournament since 1990. Croatia, meanwhile have made the World Cup knockout rounds for the first time since 1998.

England and Croatia meet today at 12:00 a.m. in Bangladesh time in the 2018 World Cup semifinals at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow.

Let’s look at some of the statistics ahead of the thrilling encounter.

Head-to-head

They have have met once before at a major tournament - England won 4-2 in a group stage match at Euro 2004.

This will be their eighth meeting overall; England have won four times, Croatia twice, with one draw.

Croatia's last victory against England was the infamous "Wally with the Brolly" match which Croatia won 3-2 at Wembley in November 2007 to end England's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008.

Six of the previous seven games have also been played on a Wednesday.

Croatia

Croatia are playing in their second World Cup semi-final after a last four appearance on their debut in the tournament in 1998.

They reached the semi-finals via a penalty shootout victory in the last 16 against Denmark and the quarter-final against Russia. The only other team to win two shootouts in a single World Cup were Argentina in 1990 (against Yugoslavia and Italy).

Their only defeat in six World Cup knockout matches was against France in the 1998 semi-final.

That is Croatia's only defeat in eight World Cup matches against European opposition (W5, D2).

Only three of the 10 goals they have scored have been via set-pieces - the others have all been from open play.

However, three out of the four goals that they have conceded have been from set-pieces.

They are unbeaten in their last nine competitive games since losing 1-0 to Turkey in September 2017.

The Croats have had eight different scorers at this World Cup; only Belgium with nine have had more.

England

This is England's third World Cup semi-final following their 2-1 win over Portugal in 1966 and their penalty shootout defeat to West Germany in 1990.

The Three Lions have lost their last three semi-finals at major tournaments (Euro 96 v Germany, 1990 World Cup v West Germany and Euro 68 v Yugoslavia).

England's current haul of 11 goals has equalled their highest total at a World Cup, set in 1966.

After losing three consecutive World Cup games, England have lost just one of their last six (W3, D2).

England have not beaten two European nations in a single World Cup since 1982, when they beat Czechoslovakia and France.

They have lost just two of their last 30 competitive matches (W22, D6) since losing their first two matches at the 2014 World Cup.

Eight of England's 11 goals have been scored via set-pieces - the most in a single World Cup since Portugal in 1966.

Four of their goals have come via corners. The last three teams to score four or more goals from corners at a World Cup have gone on to win it - Germany in 2014, Italy in 2006 and France in 1998.

England's tally of five different scorers is their joint-most in a tournament along with 1954, 1998 and 2002.

Harry Kane is the World Cup's top scorer with six goals. At the previous nine World Cups, only Ronaldo (eight for Brazil in 2002) has scored more. No European player has scored seven goals at a single World Cup since Poland's Grzegorz Lato got seven in 1974, while no European player has scored eight since Gerd Muller hit 10 for West Germany in 1970.

Sam Allardyce vowed to defer to captain Wayne Rooney over his positioning after starting life as England manager with a last-gasp 1-0 win over Slovakia in World Cup qualifying.

Adam Lallana snatched a 95th-minute winner against 10-man Slovakia in Trnava on Sunday to prevent Allardyce from becoming the first England manager since Bobby Robson in 1982 not to win his first game.

Rooney, making a record 116th appearance for an England outfield player, adopted a deep-lying midfield role for much of the game despite Allardyce having said he would play in a number 10 position.

But Allardyce said: "This is the most decorated outfield player in England. He's won everything at Man United, more or less, and at Champions League and domestic level.

"He holds a lot more experience at international football than me as an international manager.

"So using his experience with a team, and playing as a team member, it's not for me to say where he's going to play.

"It's up to me to (ask): 'Are you playing well in that position? And if you are playing well and contributing, that's great.'

"Yes, I'd like him to get forward a bit more. He's been a goalscorer all his life and I want him still to score goals, but he reads a game as he reads it.

"I must admit, he did play a little deeper than I thought he'd play. But I was pleased with his performance."

Rooney, 30, started the game in midfield alongside Jordan Henderson in a 4-1-4-1 system.

It's a game of mathematics now.

The World Cup in Russia has reached an exciting phase. Except for eight teams, the fate of the rest hangs in the balance. Wins alone in the remaining group matches are no longer enough for teams to qualify into the round of 16. Complex mathematics comes into play. Permutations of points, goal difference, head-to-head records, fair play points or even the drawing of lots may decide their destinies.

The eight nations of Portugal, Spain, Russia, Uruguay, France, Croatia, Belgium and England are relieved, and eight others -- Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Peru, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Panama and Poland -- are packing their bags to catch a flight home.

The tournament's top favourites -- Brazil, Argentina and Germany -- are yet to make it to the next level. Eight spots are up for grabs, and one stumble or a better showing by also-rans can get any of these world giants out of this World Cup.

Tensions run high in three out of eight World Cup groups -- D (Croatia, Nigeria, Iceland and Argentina), E (Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia and Costa Rica) and F (Mexico, Germany, Sweden and South Korea). The race is wide open.

A few of the superstars sparkled, but most others are still a pale shadow of their famous selves. Stars shone, teams won: that's the story of the World Cup so far. Notwithstanding yesterday's missed penalty against Iran, Cristiano Ronaldo is the only superstar who showed no dip in the superb form he has been displaying for his club Real Madrid. For him, it was just a change of jersey from club to country. He started off with a hattrick against Spain and scored one goal in the next, against Morocco.

England striker Harry Kane topped the list of goal-scoring stars with 5. Romelu Lukaku (4) and Eden Hazard (2) spearheaded Belgium's exciting journey forward. Denis Cheryshev (3) of Russia, Diego Costa (3) of Spain, Ahmed Musa (2) of Nigeria, Luka Modric (2) of Croatia and Philippe Coutinho (2) of Brazil are among the goals.

But Argentina's greatest goal-machine Lionel Messi is still hibernating and Brazil's big hope Neymar not up to the mark yet.

So, for fans of this beautiful game, it's time to live with nerves frayed and keep fingers crossed for their big stars to come out firing on all cylinders!

As records go, Europe plays best on European soil. And in Russia, there is no exception to that yet. European nations are dominating and American countries struggling. Japan and Nigeria are however carrying the lights of Asia and Africa quite commendably.

England are the latest of the European countries going great guns with a thumping 6-1 win against Panama that included a hattrick, the third in their World Cup history, from Harry Kane. The mercurial skipper also struck twice in England's 2-1 victory in their opener against Tunisia, including a header in injury time.

This English side look completely different than that seen in Brazil fours back. In 2014, England, with survivors of its so-called Golden Generation in the team, bowed out from the group stage winless and blamed it all on the heat, particularly the humidity of the Amazonian jungle.

Those were older, more experienced and celebrity-obsessed. These are younger, hungrier and goal-obsessed. The second-youngest in Russia, England's players of below-26 demonstrated joyous display of togetherness in the sweltering heat of Nizhny Novgorod.

In my view, momentum is everything in football.

Fortunately for Gareth Southgate, his men picked the momentum at the start. Now the challenge is to keep the momentum going all the way. And England fans have every reason to be pumped up this time. Fifty-two years went by after the father of modern football won the cup in 1966.

The writer is former Sports Editor of The Daily Star

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