ENGLAND’S comfortable 3-0 victory over Senegal has set up a blockbuster World Cup quarter-final with France on Saturday.
The defending champions swatted Poland aside 3-1 in their last-16 clash to reach the last-eight for a third successive time.
And Didier Deschamps men will be confident they can become the first nation since Brazil in 1962 to retain the World Cup.
But Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions are roaring after bagging 12 goals in four games since arriving in Qatar.
The likes of Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Harry Maguire have shown some of their best form to help England on their way into the latter stages.
However, how many of England’s stars would make it into the France team and vice-versa?
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SunSport has decided to take a look at the best possible XI that could be made based on their performances in Qatar so far.
So here it is.
In between the sticks we have gone with England’s No1 Jordan Pickford.
The Everton keeper has kept three clean sheets already and conceded just one goal from open play.
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France shot-stopper Hugo Lloris is yet to keep a clean sheet in the tournament, so it had to be Pickford.
The back four is split evenly with both sides managing two players each.
Kyle Walker is a shoe-in at right-back, with Theo Hernandez getting the nod ahead of Luke Shaw on the left after he replaced brother Lucas in the France set-up following his injury in the opening game against Australia.
Dayot Upamecano is one of the centre-backs thanks to a superb tournament to date.
And he is joined in the heart of the defence by Maguire – who has once again demonstrated his ability to put club form to one side and rise to the occasion for his country.
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The Manchester United skipper even gets in ahead of Red Devils team-mate Raphael Varane – who is keeping him out of the team at Old Trafford.
In midfield, England occupy two of the three positions with Declan Rice and Bellingham.
With France missing Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante, there is little debate about Rice being the sitter in this team.
Bellingham has been one of the stars of the competition so far and produced a quite breathtaking performance against Senegal.
They are joined in the middle of the park by Antoine Griezmann who – like Maguire – has shown club form does not affect him at international level.
Then up front there are a host of big names that miss out on selection.
We have decided to go for a trio of Kylian Mbappe, Saka and Harry Kane.
Mbappe is the leading goalscorer in Qatar and has to be on the left flank.
Kane remains one of the best all-round strikers in the world – as much of a creative threat as he is a finisher.
And Saka has helped himself to three goals at the World Cup, establishing himself as one of England’s best players.
But that does mean the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Foden, Kingsley Coman, Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford have all been left out.
Olivier Giroud is also absent despite becoming France’s all-time record scorer at the World Cup.
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All in all, England have seven players in the team to France’s four.
It remains to be seen whether that individual quality can manifest itself into a victory come Saturday.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
