27 Sports Tuesday, July 10, 2018 Croatian midfield threat poses dilemma for manager Southgate Southgate’s system is built to probe for weaknesses REPINO: Manager Gareth Southgate has largely stuck to which they were favourites against Colombia and Sweden, his guns in terms of England’s tactical approach at this England now face a high-quality, highly tactical opponent tournament but the challenge of a World Cup semi-final and Southgate must decide if his trusted formation is really against Croatia in Moscow tomorrow poses him a tricky suited for such a task. dilemma. Croatia have arguably the strongest central mid- Another matter of concern for England will be the wide field pairing of the tournament in Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic areas, where Kieran Trippier has been outstanding in his and Real Madrid playmaker Luka Modric, while England attacking wing back role on the right and Ashley Young have been playing with just one orthodox central defensive has done an effective job on the left. midfielder, Jordan Henderson. Croatia have attacking quality out wide in Ivan Perisic Southgate’s system is built to probe for weaknesses via on the left and Ante Rebic on the opposite flank, both of a trio of attacking players operating behind and around whom will give England’s full backs plenty of defensive striker Harry Kane, with all three expected to contribute to work to do. Both Perisic and Rebic can cut inside to sup- the defensive work when the team does not have posses- port Mandzukic from inside left and inside right roles, sion. That means Jesse Lingard, Dele Alli and Raheem meaning even more strain on Henderson if he is left unac- Sterling- none of whom are noted for the defensive side of companied. If Southgate were to bring in Dier, it will be a their game- must put in the hard graft of closing down very difficult decision to decide which of his attacking trio space and harrying their opponents. he should sacrifice. Jesse Lingard has been excellent and is So far it has worked pretty well. Taking on both massive surely a certain starter, leaving the issue as a straight responsibility and a huge workload, Henderson has been choice between Dele Alli, who scored in the 2-0 win over excellent and the attacking trio have helped him enough to Sweden but is carrying a knock and was otherwise quiet, ensure he has not been swamped. But with Rakitic and and Raheem Sterling. Modric operating centrally and Andrej Kramaric inclined Sterling caused Sweden plenty of problems, stretching to drop off behind lone striker Mario Mandzukic, the dan- them with his movement on Saturday, but missed a glori- ger of Croatia dominating the central areas is a very real ous chance and the fact he has not scored for England one for England. since October 2015 is a major concern for the most The obvious option for Southgate would be to advanced of the trio. Southgate is loyal to his players and strengthen that area by bringing in Eric Dier to help would be reluctant to leave out the Manchester City for- Henderson and shore up the middle of the park. That ward. Nor will he be keen to disrupt a formation which has would mean sacrificing one of the attacking midfield trio, carried his team to the last four. however, which risks upsetting the balance of the forma- But Croatia are, unlike Colombia and Sweden, a team tion and reducing England’s effectiveness with the ball. that can dominate possession for long stretches as they MOSCOW: Croatia’s team players take part in a training session of Croatia’s national football team at the The impression so far is that Southgate trusts his sys- seek to exploit defensive gaps. Plenty then for both Luzhniki training field, in Moscow, yesterday ahead of their Russia 2018 semi-final football match tem and his players, and does not want to let the opposi- Southgate and his opposite number Zlatko Dalic to ponder against England.— AFP tion dictate his approach. But after two knockout games in ahead of their meeting in Moscow. — Reuters ‘Winners’ Fellaini, Chadli keep African After Russia’s interest alive glorious World Cup run, fans ask: MOSCOW: The World Cup semi-finals may be an all- European affair but Belgium’s unlikely heroes Marouane Fellaini and Nacer Chadli have ensured that ‘Where was Putin?’ at least one part of North Africa has retained a strong interest in the tournament. MOSCOW: As Russia’s World Cup dream ended with The midfield duo, who both have dual Moroccan- defeat to Croatia, some soccer fans noted the Belgian nationality, kept Belgium alive with their goals absence from the stadium of President Vladimir Putin, off the bench in the extraordinary round of 16 come- who attended only one match in Russia’s best World back against Japan and were handed starts in the 2-1 Cup run since the Soviet collapse in 1991. win over Brazil. In the Kazan quarter-final, Fellaini Putin was at Russia’s opening game against Saudi rewarded coach Roberto Martinez with 90 minutes of Arabia but skipped the following four - despite the hassling, harrying and sometimes hacking that played national side, the tournament’s lowest-ranking, defy- havoc with the flow of Brazil’s vaunted midfield. ing expectations and reaching the quarter-finals. Born in Etterbeek to Moroccan parents, Fellaini is an “Where has the president got to?” asked Nezygar, established member of Belgium’s “golden generation” a popular news channel on messaging service despite criticism of his performances at Manchester Telegram. “Tell Putin our guys would have won if he’d United. While his call-up to the World Cup squad was come to the game!” fan Pavel Gondarev wrote on to be expected, Chadli would have been a shock inclu- social media to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, sion in the squad even if he had not missed most of the who attended the shootout defeat. MOSCOW: (L to R) Belgium’s forward Michy Batshuayi, Belgium’s midfielder Marouane Fellaini, Belgium’s Online news site Znak.com wrote that Russians on season for West Bromwich Albion because of injury. forward Eden Hazard and Belgium’s midfielder Thorgan Hazard joke during a training session at the social media are “tying themselves up in knots trying The versatile 28-year-old, who played a friendly for Guchkovo Stadium in Dedovsk, outside Moscow, yesterday, on the eve of their Russia 2018 World Cup to guess where Vladimir Putin might have got to”. Morocco in 2010 before committing to Belgium, ran semi-final football match against France. — AFP Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters on himself into the ground at left wing back against Brazil Monday Putin had only ever been scheduled to before making way for the better-known Thomas attend the opening and closing games of the tourna- Vermaelen seven minutes from time. esting technically and tactically. “They are two players Batshuayi all having at least one Congolese parent, ment. He was minimising attendance because matches That Belgium held off a late Brazilian charge to set who are winners, they are fighters, they are survivors. I while Mousa Dembele’s father is from Mali. “happen when he is at the height of his working day”. up tomorrow’s last four meeting with France in St think for me they are an example for any young player Adnan Januzaj, meanwhile, is the son of Kosovar- “He doesn’t play soccer himself, but naturally Petersburg was another vindication of Martinez’s faith who wants to play the game. And any young player who Albanian migrants and Axel Witsel’s father has roots in like the overwhelming majority of Russians he is a in the duo. “We are extremely proud of Nacer and wants to face adversity in life.” the French Caribbean island of Martinique. “We are fan. Of course he isn’t obsessive-because he can’t Marouane,” the Spaniard said before the Kazan Arena Fellaini and Chadli are not the only players in the very, very proud of the diversity we have in the squad,” permit himself this-but he likes interesting foot- clash. “Their performances have been incredible. Not squad with African heritage, of course, with Romelu Martinez added. “I feel that’s probably the biggest ball,” Peskov said. just on the football level, where they’ve been very inter- Lukaku, Vincent Kompany, Dedryck Boyata and Michy strength that we have as a football team.” — Reuters While Putin sat out the Russia-Croatia quarter- final, his Croatian counterpart, Kolinda Grabar- Kitarovic, was in the stadium, wearing the red and white of the Croatian flag. French President peloton, whizzing past fans at over 40km an hour. ting perfect execution,” he said. “The worrying comes Emmanuel Macron will fly in for the semi-final Froome faces Other than a couple of fans holding up signs such as afterwards,” he added. between France and Belgium, which Putin has no “Froome go home” on Saturday and Sunday, the festive Another team highly fancied yesterday is the powerful plans to attend. Atlantic coast jaunt went well for Froome until 6km from BMC, whose leader, like Froome and Mitchelton Scott’s Competing theories in Moscow swirled as to why public ‘trial’ on home when he was forced off the road, escaping unhurt Adam Yates, trails yellow jersey Peter Sagan by 1min Putin appeared to have stayed away. Putin, a black but losing around a minute to some key rivals. 09sec due to the mayhem at Saturday’s finish. Mitchelton belt in judo, is an avid ice hockey fan and The Bell, a But there was some ugly cheering at the Fontenay finish Scott also have healthy dose of good strong rollers while Russian media outlet, cited a high-ranking official as Tour third stage line where a giant screen was broadcasting the images live.