England team trains ahead of clash against Croatia

Zelenogorsk (Russia), July 10 : The England squad on Tuesday trained ahead of their World Cup semi-final against Croatia at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

At their base in Zelenogorsk, near Saint Petersburg, coach Gareth Southgate presided over a session in which the players were seen laughing as they tossed around a rubber chicken, showing few nerves ahead of England’s biggest game in nearly 30 years, reports Efe.

Wednesday’s semi-final will be only the third ever that the Three Lions have competed in, after 1966, when they won the tournament; and 1990, when they lost to West Germany on penalties.

Seventeen of England’s 23-man squad were not born the last time the team reached a World Cup semi-final.

Southgate has no fresh injury concerns ahead of his country’s ninth meeting with Croatia, and is likely to name the same starting 11 which eliminated Sweden 2-0 in the quarter-final.

Croatia versus England will be played on Wednesday at the Luzhniki Stadium in the Russian capital.