Croatia facing defensive headache for England semi final

England’s chances of reaching the World Cup final could be given a major boost before they even face Croatia in Wednesday’s semi final in Moscow.

Croatia could be facing a defensive injury crisis with major doubts over goalkeeper Danijel Subasic and right-back Sime Vrsaljko heading into the match.

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An injury cloud is also hanging over central defender Dejan Lovren, but the Liverpool defender is likely to face the Three Lions.

Subasic played all 120 minutes of Croatia’s penalty shoot-out win over Russia, despite a hamstring issue which flared up in injury time in the Sochi clash.

He stayed on for the duration of the match, but the injury was severe enough that he couldn’t take goalkicks in extra time, and he missed training on Monday, along with Lovren and Vrsaljko.

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Star fullback Vrsaljko is battling a knee complaint and is unlikely to be fit for the showdown, the defender himself saying today that the team is “physically and emotionally tired”.

If, as expected, the Atletico Madrid fullback is unable to feature manager Zlatko Dalic will be forced into shuffling his defence, which should open the door for England.

Vrsaljko’s likely replacement would be 32-year-old Vedran Corluka, which would push Domagoj Vida from the centre-half role he’s been playing out to right-back.

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With Corluka partnering Lovren in defence, and Subasic not 100% fit, it would leave Croatia dangerously short on pace at the back, which should have Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling licking their lips in anticipation.

Meanwhile, England have no such concerns with Gareth Southgate confirming his Three Lions team have a clean bill of health.

Midfielder Jordan Henderson had been in doubt for the match with a slight hamstring niggle, but he has been cleared to play.

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“We have every player available,” Southgate said. “We have almost had every player fit for every training session.”

Southgate named the same starting XI for both the games against Colombia and Sweden and he is expected to do the same for the clash with Croatia.