World Cup

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.
England have scored 12 goals in four matches at the World CupCredit: AP
France are bidding to join Italy and Brazil as the third country to retain the World CupCredit: AP
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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A combined XI made up of England and France’s World Cup stars
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. More

ENGLAND hero Jordan Henderson threw his support behind Raheem Sterling by wearing his shorts after the winger’s house was burgled.The Chelsea star, 27, was originally withdrawn from the squad to face Senegal for personal reasons.
England hero Jordan Henderson wears Raheem Sterling’s shortsCredit: Richard Pelham / The Sun
Sterling modelling his No10 shorts during the World Cup match against USACredit: AP
It later emerged that Sterling’s Surrey mansion was the subject of an armed raid on Saturday night.
And standing by the star was team-mate Henderson, who sported Sterling’s No10 shorts once the final whistle was blown, as he greeted family in the stands in Qatar.
Sterling has raced back to the UK following the incident at his home – 15 minutes from Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham.
Terrified fiancée Paige Milian, 27 — at home with their two kids — raised the alarm when the gang took watches worth £300,000.
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Sterling could return to Qatar for Saturday’s quarter-final against France.
Boss Gareth Southgate said: “He is dealing with a family matter. I had quite a bit of time with him this morning but I have had to pass that on to other people to help him with that.
“He will go and deal with that matter and we will have to take it from there.”
It is not known if property developer Paige confronted the raiders or whether they fled when they realised someone was in.
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The gang may have thought she and the couple’s sons, aged five and three, were still in Qatar.
Before England’s first game she posted pictures of the two boys on a cruise ship in Doha, and she was tagged in social media images with cocktails.
A family source said: “This was terrifying for her and obviously traumatic for all the family.
“Raheem will have been beside himself with worry when he heard.
“To be away when your partner and children are at home when an armed gang breaks in is beyond words.
“It looks like about £300,000 of watches have been taken. The police were there several hours.”
Without Sterling, England crushed Senegal 3-0 in their last-16 clash.
It was pal Henderson who opened the scoring and ease England’s nerves after 38 minutes.
Harry Kane finally broke his World Cup duck by smashing home a second deep into injury time in the first hald.
Bukayo Saka added gloss to the performance with a third on 57 minutes to wrap up the win.
However, after the game attention soon switched to Sterling – and it was Henderson who revealed his team-mates are fully behind his decision to return home.
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“It’s a blow but I hope everything is OK with Raheem’s family at home. I hope he goes back and can sort everything out,” Henderson said.
“I’m not sure if he can come back, I suppose he will have to assess when he’s there but all our thoughts and support are with him.”
England put on a show against Senegal without their mate SterlingCredit: Getty More