France await in final on Sunday
Tuesday 10 July 2018 21:32, UK
England are on the cusp of a World Cup final - and Charlie Nicholas is back with his semi-final predictions.
France booked their spot in the final with a 1-0 win over Belgium, and Soccer Saturday pundit Nicholas has offered his views on how things will unfold in Moscow when England face Croatia on Wednesday....
I thought England would be going home in the quarter-finals but helped by a beautiful draw, I think they will nick this game and make the World Cup final.
As a Scotsman, it's quite painful watching the profile of England going forward. Are they the best team at the tournament? No, but there are no negatives about them and they could win the World Cup - absolutely.
England have the slight advantage here due to the exhaustion of the Croatia players, whose legs started to go at the end of their gruelling clash with Russia.
Jordan Henderson is a vital fabric of what England want to do - it will be a huge boost if he's fit. He passes it better than Eric Dier and keeps the fluency of the side which brings the best out of Raheem Sterling and Dele Alli, the England attackers crave that quick, fluent passes. If they play in that way, I'd expect them to have too much for Croatia.
I think this could be the game where Sterling proves his point and gets a goal (11/4 to score anytime). The criticism of him has been ridiculous, yes, he misses chances but who doesn't miss chances? Those players don't get booed or criticised like he does. He can be England's hero.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 1-2 (12/1 with Sky Bet)
