With the identity of one of the World Cup finalists known, Croatia and England square off in Moscow to earn the right to face France in four days.
Les Bleus reached their third World Cup final in 20 years after beating Belgium 1-0 in Saint Petersburg and will be interested spectators on Wednesday.
The game kicks off at 2 p.m. EST and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and Telemundo, with commentary in English on the former and Spanish on the latter. The matches will also be available online via FOX Sports GO, FOX Soccer Match Pass and the FOX Sports app. They will be streamed live via Fubo Premier, DirectTV Now and Sling Blue.
England are favorites to progress to their first World Cup final in 52 years, with William Hill offering odds of 13/10 on the Three Lions to win in 90 minutes, while Croatia are 5/2 and the draw is 2. Odds on England to qualify are 8/13, while Croatia are 5/4.
FiveThirtyEight gives England a 57 percent chance to reach the final, compared to Croatia's 43 percent.
Road to the World Cup Final
England arrive into their first World Cup semifinal in 28 years on a high after making light work of Sweden in the quarterfinals. While they haven't faced any of the tournament's big hitters yet, they have displayed the kind of carefree attitude that always escaped their predecessors.
The Three Lions have been rewriting their history during the tournament, winning a first penalty shootout at the World Cup and reaching the semifinal of soccer's most important competition for the first time since they lost to West Germany in 1990.
"We've made several pieces of history," England manager Gareth Southgate told BBC Sport.
"Biggest win in the tournament. First knockout win for 10 years. First quarter-final win for longer. First win on penalties in the World Cup. We keep looking to break the barriers down. It's been an enjoyable journey, and we want to keep it going."
Croatia dazzled their way through the group stages, but were less impressive in the knockout stages and needed penalty shootouts to knock out Denmark in the round of 16 and Russia in the quarterfinals.
However, in Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, Croatia have two of the best midfielders in the world and should provide England with their hardest test yet.
The fluidity of the group stages might have disappeared and the physical strain of playing two 120-minute games in a week is likely to take its toll, but Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic insisted his side were ready.
"We're tired but there can be no excuses," he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
"We've come to the semifinal. We're here to play football, enjoy ourselves and give our all. We do not want to say we are fatigued. We have not been exhausted. There is still opportunity for us to exhaust ourselves."
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About the writer
Dan Cancian is currently a reporter for Newsweek based in London, England. Prior to joining Newsweek in January 2018, he ... Read more
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