What a match it was Friday midnight! A cracker of a contest that was fought hard till the end.

Harry Maguire and Dele Alli scored as England comfortably defeated Sweden 2-0 in Samara on Saturday to reach the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990.

Fans back home erupted in celebration and the beer went flying as England reached the World Cup semifinals for the first time in 28 years on Saturday.

Sweden made very few mistakes but came up against a better team on the day and a superb goalkeeper in England's Jordan Pickford to miss out on their first World Cup semifinal since 1994, coach Janne Andersson said on Saturday.

Sweden were lauded for their collective spirit heading into their World Cup quarterfinal on Saturday, however after his side secured a 2-0 win it was England manager Gareth Southgate purring about the togetherness of his young squad.

No horror, no overreaction, just a wistful sigh: this was, by and large, the tone of Brazilian press reaction to the Selecao's quarterfinal defeat to Belgium.

Ivan Rakitic scored the winning penalty as Croatia beat Russia 4-3 in a shoot-out after a dramatic 2-2 draw on Saturday to end the World Cup hopes of the host nation and advance to a semi-final against England.

While we were crammed into a narrow corridor awaiting the elevator, one gentleman approached with a very important guest in tow.

When Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were sent packing from the World Cup a week ago, the stage was set for Brazil's Neymar to take over the role of the tournament's true star.

Brazil forward Neymar accepted the fact that the disappointing quarterfinal loss to Belgium which ended Brazil's dream of winning a sixth world title was the ‘saddest day’ of his career.

All three of the soccer superpowers Brazil, Argentina and Germany, who have won 11 World Cups between them, bowed out of the tournament at the Kazan Arena.

An impressive England advance to their first World Cup semifinal for 28 years on Saturday after headers by Harry Maguire and Dele Alli give them a deserved 2-0 last-eight victory over a disappointing Sweden.

South America will be absent from the World Cup semi-finals for the fifth time in the tournament's history after the continent's top players either fails to excel or sufferes injuries at key moments during the tournament in Russia.

England coach Gareth Southgate names an unchanged side for Saturday's World Cup quarter-final against Sweden following their penalty shootout victory over Colombia in the last round.

"Everyone thinks Romelu Lukaku is just about goals, goals, goals, but I want to be seen as an all-rounder" says Lukaku.

Harry Kane will seek to fire England into their first World Cup semi-final for 28 years when they face Sweden on Saturday after Brazil were dumped out in the last eight by Belgium.

An impressive Croatia outfit led by midfield lynchpins Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic stand in the way of the hosts Russia on Saturday in Sochi, but coach Stanislav Cherchesov says his side are boosted by the support of President Vladimir Putin.

Brazil star midfielder Philippe Coutinho admits that he knows Brazil will be facing criticisms from all sides after their shock 2-1 defeat against Belgium in their quarter-final match of the tournament that saw the Selecao being eliminated from the World Cup 2018.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Beckham agree on the terms of a friendly wager ahead of the England v Sweden World Cup quarter-final on Saturday.

De Bruyne says that in the first half of the match the Selecao had no clue how to respond to the counter-attacks by Belgium but also admits that Brazil had put in a better performance in the final 45 minutes of the game.