Manchester United have five players remaining at this winter’s World Cup and three of them are in action tonight as England prepare to take on France in the quarter-final.
England have the opportunity to equal their run to the 2018 semi-final and should they beat France, they will face Morocco who surprisingly eliminated Portugal earlier on Saturday.
Roughly an hour before the mouthwatering fixture between England and France kicks off, it has been confirmed that Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw both start for the Three Lions whilst Raphael Varane keeps his place for Didier Deschamps’ men.
France are aiming to retain their World Cup title after convincingly claiming it in Russia four years ago but England is their biggest test so far.
Your #ThreeLions to face France! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/hfuYqFG8bp
— England (@England) December 10, 2022
Notre 1️⃣1️⃣ de départ pour ce 𝟭/𝟰 𝙙𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙚 de Coupe du Monde 🫡
🏴🇫🇷 | #ANGFRA | #FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/cdlceMpXed
— Equipe de France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) December 10, 2022
It can be argued that England are yet to face top-class opposition in either of their two World Cups under Gareth Southgate but victory over France would put those suggestions to bed.
In the event that England manage to make it to next week’s final, they will face either Argentina or Croatia. The latter would mean a third straight tournament game against Croatia, having also played against them in last year’s European Championship and the 2018 World Cup.
Marcus Rashford is England’s joint-top goalscorer in Qatar but the 25-year-old has started just one game and was again named on the bench by Southgate.
