By: Gordon D’Costa
England boasts of conducting the best football leagues in the world. But, sadly they have not really been able to translate that into dominating the World Cup. The Three Lions have not been able to achieve much World Cup success, having won the tournament only once, in 1966, when it hosted the tournament. They defeated West Germany 4-2 over extra-time, in the only final they have reached and that victory is still clouded by the controversy over whether their third goal, the first of extra-time, actually crossed the goalline.
In their quest to end their 56 year drought of once again winning the FIFA World Cup, England face a daunting task. The Englishmen will have to raise the level of their game if they harbour hopes of getting past the charged up reigning champions France in the quarter-finals, at the Al Bayt Stadium on Saturday.
The Three Lions can go into this crucial game against the Kylian Mbappe inspired French team, with a bit of confidence considering that they were unbeaten in the group stage and their convincing 3-0 win against Senegal in the first knockout round, last Sunday. But, those opponents were not ranked among the top teams.
Besides that lone triumph, England reached the semi-finals on only two other occasions. In the 1990 tournament in Italy they went down to West Germany on penalty kicks, after a 1-1 extra-time draw. They then lost the third-place match to the host nation, 2-1. They also progressed to the last in the 2018 tournament in Russia, losing to Croatia to an extra-time goal, and then losing to Belgium in the third-place match.
England has not performed well in this global tournament, but boasts of winning both previous World Cup meetings with France. The first was a 2-0 victory during England’s historic triumph in 1966, and the second a 3-1 group-stage win over Les Bleus at the 1982 World Cup.
But England’s manager Gareth Southgate will be aware that to beat the current French crop would certainly be a huge boost for his team and put them on the road to the final.
The key to England’s fortunes is the defence where Luke Shaw, John Stones and Harry Maguire have performed well. Wing back Kyle Walker has also reclaimed his starting spot and they will be responsible to stop Frenchman Mbappe who is going great guns, from leading the Les Bleus attack.
But the 23-year-old Frenchman Mbappe, could be the spoiler and dash England’s hopes. Mbappe was impressive and was the youngest French player to score at a World Cup and played an important role in France’s triumph, and has already created an impact in Qatar. The dashing striker was involved in all three goals during the Round of 16 match against Poland, setting up the first for Olivier Giroud before adding a brace of his own, while Les Bleus’ attacking play only really got going in their final group game against Tunisia after he was brought on as a substitute.
Jude Bellingham, the heart of the English midfielder played a pivotal role in all their earlier matches and Southgate would certainly look up to him to deliver once again. Bellingham wasted no time in getting on the scoresheet in England’s opening match against IR Iran, then contributed an assist against Senegal, and has impressed in all four games.
In attack Marcus Rashford is England’s most in-form forward and having already scored three goals looks capable of staking a claim for the Golden Boot. Mbappe currently leads the list with five goals.
France head coach Didier Deschamps would bank on the star players Kylian Mbappe, Hugo Lloris, Olivier Giroud, who made history for Les Bleus when he became his country’s all-time leading goalscorer in France’s 3-1 knockout rout over Poland on Sunday.
Deschamps hoped that his troops could become the third nation to win successive championships after Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962). This is France’s 16th appearance in the World Cup, a competition they have won on two occasions (1998, 2018).