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- England is through to the World Cup semifinal after a 2-0 victory over Sweden.
- The win came easily for England, with two beautiful headers from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli leading the way to a dominant victory.
- England will face off against the winner of Saturday's match between Russia and Croatia for a spot in the World Cup final.
England defeated Sweden 2-0 on Saturday to go through to the 2018 World Cup semifinal for the first time since 1990.
The victory came a bit easier than the Three Lions' previous match against Colombia, in which England needed to prevail in a tense penalty shootout before advancing. On Saturday, England took control early and never looked back.
Harry Maguire opened up the scoring in the first half as England continued to excel on set pieces and free kicks. After England won a corner, Maguire got his head on a beautiful ball from Ashley Young to give the Three Lions the lead just 30 minutes into the match.
From there, England would not look back, controlling the pace of the match and never ceding much ground to Sweden. In the few moments that the Swedes looked as if they might be a threat to equalize, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford did his part to hold on to the clean sheet.
In the second half, England doubled its advantage with a header from Dele Alli. The play came to life so quickly and easily that it looked more like practice than something that could have been executed in a World Cup quarterfinal.
In light of its 2-0 victory Saturday, England is one of the final four teams that will compete for the World Cup and is just two wins away from raising the trophy. With powerhouse Brazil falling to Belgium in the "side of death," the tournament looks wide open for any team to finish its magical run.
England will face off against the winner of Saturday's match between Russia and Croatia for a spot in the World Cup final on Wednesday, July 11.
More World Cup coverage:
- David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have a hilarious, high-stakes wager on the England-Sweden game
- Brazil, the overwhelming favorite to win the World Cup, has been knocked out, and now the tournament is wide open
- With Ronaldo and Messi out of the tournament, 19-year-old French wunderkind Kylian Mbappe is the rising star to watch in the rest of the 2018 World Cup
- The most mesmerizing photos from the World Cup so far
Set pieces, set pieces, set pieces...
Harry Maguire heads home the opening goal of the match to put England up 1-0! pic.twitter.com/uGph264mnY
- FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 7, 2018
Dele Alli gets in on the scoring (and the dancing) 🙌 pic.twitter.com/VR4aMpNjVU
- FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 7, 2018