England's 'easy' path runs through Sweden

MOSCOW (AP):

England coach Gareth Southgate basically picked his team's path toward the semi-finals by sending out a squad of reserves that lost to Belgium in their last match of the group round, when both sides had already qualified for the knockout stage. His reasoning: No one wants to play teams like Brazil or France until they have to. His insinuation: Teams like Sweden are weaker. Southgate may not have meant it as a slight and has since called Sweden "bloody difficult". But when Sweden coach Janne Andersson was asked about it, he curtly suggested any doubters ask Sweden's beaten opponents how tough the Swedes are to play. If England win today's first quarter-final in Samara, expect Southgate to be further hailed for his foresight. If Sweden win, Southgate's strategy may get a rougher review.

The hosts Russia came into the tournament ranked 70th in the world. Even after drawing a favourable group, expectations were minimal. Advancing to the knockout stage was deemed success enough by some. Then goalkeeper and captain Igor Akinfeev stuck out his left foot and stopped Spain's final kick of a penalty shootout in the round of 16, and suddenly Russia had pulled off one of the bigger upsets in World Cup history. Croatia have one of the most balanced teams in the tournament, but the Russians believe their quarter-final in Sochi is winnable. If that happens, Russia would be playing a semifinal - maybe even the final - in Moscow's main stadium, and a country where football usually takes a distant back seat to hockey could go bonkers.

England won the World Cup one time , back in 1966. Sweden lost the final at home to Brazil in '58. Those are the only times any of the four teams playing today has even made it to a World Cup final, but one of them will be playing at the Luzhniki Stadium on July 15 against 1998 champion France or Belgium.