England’s best start to a World Cup in 12 years saw them bag a last-minute winner against Tunisia and storm to a 6-1 victory over Panama, their biggest ever win at any major tournament. However, after losing 1-0 to Belgium, England finished as group runners-up, meaning they will play Colombia in the round of 16, who managed a 1-0 win over Senegal on Thursday.
Though usually the best-case scenario is finishing first, the unpredictable nature of the first two rounds of the group stage has meant that many of the tournament’s favourites have actually finished second in their group (or have been knocked out altogether).
So, although England lost, they are now in arguably the easier half of the draw. So, now the group-stage is over, we can take a proper look at their potential route to the World Cup final.
Possible route to the World Cup 2018 final
If England make it past Colombia, they’ll go one of either Sweden or Switzerland in the quarter-finals. Against the odds, Sweden managed to finish first in a group featuring Germany, Mexico and South Korea.
If they make it past Sweden, and into the semi-finals (holds breathe), then on paper one would assume that Spain are England’s most likely opposition.
After that, well, it would be England’s first World Cup final since 1966, but there’s a long long way to go.