LONDON: England’s stunning resurgence under Gareth Southgate scaled new dizzying heights on Saturday after they charged into the World Cup semifinal for the first time since 1990.
England were rank outsiders for the tournament at the outset, given no chance on the back of their lousy record in knockout football, but they have, slowly and stealthily, gathered momentum and are now just 90 minutes away from their first World Cup final since they thrillingly won the tournament in 1966.
Harry Maguire’s magnificent header after half-an-hour and one from Dele Alli just before the hour won it with something to spare for Southgate’s remodelled and youthful side against Sweden. They now progress to the last-four clash on Wednesday with absolutely nothing to fear. In fact, other teams might start to fear them after this performance. In a World Cup full of surprises, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that England could win the whole thing. Who, after all, thought Greece would win the European Championships in 2004?
Stiffer challenges will await England in the semifinal and possibly the final, but Sweden are no mugs. Let’s be clear about that. They qualified ahead of Holland, beat South Korea and Mexico in their group and then dumped out Switzerland in the last 16. They played the tag of underdogs all week but they never really got to grips with the magnitude of the occasion in Samara and ran out of steam. The direct nature of their play was meat and drink to England’s defenders who are used to this tactic week in, week out in the Premier League.
England were a bit more sophisticated in their approach and could have scored more than the one they did, Raheem Sterling going particularly close in the first half. Sweden had their moments and it took a brilliant, flying one-handed save from Jordan Pickford to stop Marcus Berg from scoring with a header at the start of the second half and Pickford denying the same player again soon after with a save low to his right. It was world-class goalkeeping.
England were just that bit more ruthless in front of goal, Maguire powering in a header from an Ashley Young corner and then Alli planting one in from a Jesse Lingard center.
England needed extra-time and two penalties to beat Cameroon the last time they won a World Cup quarterfinal in 1990. Here they had the whole thing done and dusted after an hour. It was all too easy.
Reborn England reach World Cup semifinal
Reborn England reach World Cup semifinal
- Maguire and Alli score for Southgate's side
- England through to first World Cup semifinal in 28 years
Supersub strikes again as Sesko gives Man United win at Everton
- The defeat was a blow to Everton’s hopes of a place in next year’s European competitions and left it languishing in ninth, behind Brentford and Bournemouth
LIVERPOOL, England: Manchester United supersub Benjamin Sesko scored 13 minutes after entering the field to give his side a 1-0 win over Everton in the Premier League on Monday.
It was the third time in four games that Sesko has scored after coming off the bench and secured points for United.
“I believe in me and so do the other players as well,” Sesko told Sky Sports. “They know what they are going to get when I arrive in the game. It’s up to me to deliver of course.”
His goal with 19 minutes remaining finished off the slickest move of an otherwise stodgy game.
Bryan Mbeumo controlled Matheus Cunha’s superb long ball and played a perfectly weighted pass to the feet of Sesko, who steered the ball past Jordan Pickford with aplomb.
“It was a great finish,” United interim coach Michael Carrick said. “It was a ruthless finish. I liked the way he put it away with real confidence. It was great play from Cunha and Mbeumo to set it up and we are dangerous on the break.”
Until then defenses had been on top and the lack of attacking fluency was not helped by a heavy pitch that appeared to slow down both teams.
The result took fourth-placed United three points clear of Chelsea and Liverpool. United was three behind Aston Villa.
It also extended Carrick’s unbeaten run to six games since he replaced Ruben Amorim on Jan. 13.
The defeat was a blow to Everton’s hopes of a place in next year’s European competitions and left it languishing in ninth, behind Brentford and Bournemouth and eight points adrift of Chelsea and Liverpool.
David Moyes’ men have gone seven games without a win at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“Generally we did very well in lots of bits,” Moyes said. “We got done on the counterattack and they ran away and got the goal that was there. We put in a great effort to get the goal but lacked the quality to make it count.”
