Croatia vs England: Odds, team news and key players to watch

Wednesday 11th July

Kick-off: 7pm BST

Stadium: Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow

Live on ITV

Croatia vs England odds

We don’t know yet if football’s coming home, but the England team definitely aren’t.

They’ll be in Russia until World Cup final weekend, and are 13/10 in the Croatia vs England odds to achieve a 90-minute semi-final victory that will see them play in Sunday’s championship match rather than Saturday’s third-place play-off.

A Croatia win is a 12/5 prospect, while it’s 2/1 that the tie gets taken to extra time, as three of the pair’s four combined knockout ties at this World Cup have done.

There will be plenty of tips and predictions of a shootout, especially as the Three Lions’ World Cup 1990 and Euro 1996 semi-finals went the distance. We’ve enhanced the odds on England to win on penalties from 8/1 to 9/1.

As for the Croatia vs England to qualify odds , England are have been cut to 8/13 favourites from 4/6, with Croatia drifting out to 6/5 in the betting.

Enhanced odds

Our betting tip of enhanced odds of 8/1 (was 13/2) are available about one of either Harry Maguire, or his central defensive colleague John Stones finding the net.

A running enhanced odds favourite is Harry Kane to score and England to win in 90 minutes which was 23/10 but now stands at 5/2.

If you discreetly fancy Croatia however, then a similar betting tip would be Mario Mandzukic to score and Croatia to win (in 90 mins) at 6/1 – from 5/1.

Croatia vs England team news

Danijel Subasic, a runner for the Golden Glove, appeared to pull his hamstring against Russia and will be monitored ahead of the game.

Croatian defender Sime Vrsaljko has been ruled out of the semi-final with a knee injury. The Atletico Madrid full-back is a key player for the Croatians and offers width and pace they somewhat lack in his absence.

Veteran ex-Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur defender Verdan Corluka is expected to take his place. Raheem Sterling could be in for a profitable day’s work against the older man and Sterling to assist a goal is our betting tip at 2/1.

Gareth Southgate has a full squad to pick from, with Jamie Vardy fit again after missing the Sweden clash and injury murmurings around Jordan Henderson proving to be a storm in a tea cup. Vardy can be backed to score anytime at odds of 2/1.

Croatia were fortunate not to accumulate any suspensions ahead of this fixture.

They went into their clash against hosts Russia with eight players a booking away from a ban and, despite picking up a further four during the contest, none of the at-risk octet are suspended for this tie.

Based on their previous selections, Danijel Subasic, the back four, Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Ante Rebic, Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic should start, and the 11th man will be either Andrej Kramaric or Marcelo Brozovic, depending on how adventurously they want to set up.

Croatia vs England key players to watch

Luka Modric perhaps shouldn’t be first-choice penalty taker given his miss against Denmark and lucky escape against Russia, but there’s no doubt that The Real Madrid playmaker is the man who makes Croatia tick.

Their 32-year-old captain collected his third man-of-the-match award in the quarter-finals, having also been recognised for his role in the group stage triumphs over Nigeria and Argentina.

It’s 4/1 that he scores against England, and 7/1 that he does so in a win for his squad.

England’s progress has rightly been painted as a collective success, yet goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was undeniably integral against both Colombia and Sweden, swatting away the few chances the latter fashioned on Saturday to earn his first clean sheet in Russia.

The Croatia vs England odds have the Three Lions to keep a clean sheet priced up at odds of 7/5 and that is our prediction.

Sterling continues to attract media and fan derision having not fired for his country since 2015, but take away the missed chances and his showing in Samara was his brightest yet. He’s 14/5 in the Anytime Goalscorer betting.

Harry Maguire, did what Sterling was unable to do against Sweden, putting away England’s first and Maguire to score a header is a 20/1 bet that’s sure to be popular.

Croatia vs England match stats

All four of Croatia’s tournament knockout matches this century have gone to extra time. They’ve won two on penalties, lost one shootout and been denied in extra time in the other.

England’s last three tournament semi-finals all delivered two goals or fewer. The most recent two ended 1-1 after 90 minutes and they were defeated on penalties. Our prediction is a 1-1 draw at odds of 24/5.

However, the six meetings between these nations this century have delivered 28 goals (4.67 a game). The sole fixture at a summer competition – Euro 2004 – was the joint-highest scoring (six).

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