Southgate just might channel Churchill to inspire young squad

Way back when

In England's last World Cup semifinal, Andreas Brehme's 60th-minute shot deflected off Paul Parker and looped over goalkeeper Peter Shilton to put West Germany ahead.

England equalized when Parker's cross bounced off Jurgen Kohler and fell to Lineker, who beat goalkeeper Bodo Illgner with a shot just inside the far post.

In the shootout, Stuart Pearce was stopped by Illgner on England's fourth attempt, Olaf Thon converted for a 4-3 lead before Chris Waddle blazed over.

Checkered history

Croatia went ahead in the 1998 semifinals only 26 seconds into the second half when Aljosa Asanovic split the defense with a pass and legendary striker Davor Suker scored his fifth goal of the tournament.

Lilian Thuram tied it a minute later after dispossessing Zvonimir Boban and exchanging passes with Youri Djorkaeff. Thuram then curled in a 70th-minute winner.

Colors

Croatia will wear its alternate navy-and-black jerseys and black shorts for the fifth straight match; England will wear white shirts and white shorts.

The Croats have not worn their white-and-red checkerboard jerseys since their opener against Nigeria.

England wore all red against Tunisia, Colombia and Sweden, and white shirts with blue shorts against Panama and Belgium.

The Three Lions also wore white in the 1966 and 1990 semifinals.

Head to head

Croatians played for Yugoslavia before the now-defunct republic split in 1990. England has four wins, two losses and one draw in the matchup, including a 4-2 victory in the group stage of the 2004 European Championship.

The teams have not met since qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, when England won 4-1 in Zagreb and 5-1 at Wembley.

England goalkeeper Paul Robinson's memorable botched clearance gifted Croatia an own-goal in a 2-0 European Championship qualifying loss in 2006.

The following year, another goalkeeping howler, this time from Scott Carson, saw Niko Kranjcar's shot bounce over the line for the opening goal as Croatia won 3-2 at Wembley, causing England to miss Euro 2008.

Then-England coach Steve McClaren, who clutched a large red-and-blue umbrella on the sidelines during the match and was dubbed "the wally with the brolly" by a British tabloid, was fired the next day.

Turkish ref

Cuneyt Cakir of Turkey will referee his second straight World Cup semifinal, after being the head official for Argentina's shootout win over the Netherlands in 2014.

AP