Semi-final showdown - A look at what's ahead in the tournament

MOSCOW (AP):

Counting injury time, Croatia will have played the equivalent of roughly four matches in 11 days by the end of their semi-final against England even if they do not go to extra time again. The Croats are licking their wounds after defeating Denmark and Russia in successive penalty shoot-outs.

Goalkeeper Danijel Subasic appeared to tweak his hamstring against Russia, which kept him from taking goal kicks by the end of the match. Starting right back Sime Vrsaljko had to be replaced during extra time with an apparent leg injury, though fellow defender Dejan Lovren was optimistic yesterday that Vrsaljko would be able to play with the semi-final looming on Wednesday.

CROWD SUPPORT

Russia's players and coach addressed a crowd of their newfound fans yesterday in Moscow, a day after getting eliminated by Croatia in a shootout.

The national team's unexpected run to the quarter-finals sparked a surge of support from fans who had been mostly indifferent before the World Cup started.

By the knockout stage, supporters were chanting

"Roo-see-ah!" at stadiums where the team was not even playing. Now that the home team is out, will its fans who have filled most of the seats throughout the tournament pick a favorite from the semi-finalists, or go back to treating football with a shrug?

ROAD WARRIORS

After returning from their quarter-finals on Friday in Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan, respectively, France and Belgium worked out at their Moscow-area training bases yesterday before heading to St Petersburg for their semi-final tomorrow afternoon.

Russia is a big country. By the time they get back to Moscow again, France will have racked up 1,300 miles (about 2,100 km) and Belgium will have gone 1,700 miles (about 2,700 km) in about five days. At this stage of the tournament, there are only four days between matches. Both squads are deep and are dealing with relatively few injuries, though Belgium will be missing defender Thomas Meunier, who picked up his second yellow card for tripping Neymar in the 2-1 quarter-final win over Brazil.