Reigning champions and tournament favorites France came to Qatar dreaming of winning consecutive World Cup titles that last happened 60 years ago when Pele-led Brazil won back-to-back trophies in 1958 and 1962.
Les Bleus now have England – the only World Cup champions yet to face defeat in this edition – in their way as Gareth Southgate's men – last time's semi-finalists - will fight to seal a successive last four spot when they meet each other at Al Bayt Stadium Saturday night.
Both teams are well balanced and in good form – French forwards are firing from all cylinders whereas England have great depth to their squad - making the game evenly-poised without any clear favorites.
Though the Three Lions have the upper hand when it comes to previous World Cup meetings – winning both the games in 1966 and 1982 - recent history keeps France ahead as the two-time world champions lost just once in last eight matches against their European counterparts.
France also played three World Cup finals, including two wins - in 1998 and 2018 - in the last 24 years while England, after their only triumph in the biggest stage of football at home in 1966, were able to play the semis twice – in 1990 and 2018, and finished fourth on both occasions.
Didier Deschamps, who is one of three special individuals to win the World Cup both as player and coach after Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer, didn't focus on the history and is rather worried of England's strengths.
"They don't have any. All teams have strengths, not all have many weaknesses, but slightly less strong points. England have seen us play four games. At the end of the day, you need to identify areas where you think you can attack them,” he said in his pre-match press conference Friday.
“Pace is often one of the keys to the match. When quick, the opponent has less time to be organized. You need more than just pace to score goals. You can stop a lot of things, but it's very difficult to stop someone who is very quick, especially in transitions.
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"England team are very strong in that area though and scored lots of goals with quick counter-attacks. They also have many other qualities in terms of technical ability, capacity to score goals and being dangerous on set pieces. It's not by chance they are facing us in the quarter-finals."
Both England and France won their last 16 clashes somewhat comfortably against Senegal and Poland respectively, scoring three goals each.
Hugo Lloris and Co though conceded once against the Poles right at the end but England, powered by Jordan Pickford and supported by some fine defense, were able to keep clean-sheets in last three matches.
Centered with Harry Maguire and John Stones pair, English defense is now in front of one of the best forward-line of the generation, comprising Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud.
Mbappe has scored five times in this tournament and his total tally of nine goals is already equal to that of Lionel Messi – given that this is just the second World Cup for the 23-year old Paris Saint Germain striker.
Kyle Walker will have the toughest job tonight as the battle between Mbappe and the Manchester City defender will be key behind the final outcome.
“We're playing the world champions, but we are two good teams that will go toe to toe. You've seen what can happen in 90-plus minutes,” the English right-back said.
“There have been shocks and for us this is just another game. We take our hat off to them as world champions, but each and every one of us will not be rolling that red carpet out for them to treat it as a theater.
“We have great talent – talk about the goals we have scored and the clean sheets that we've kept. In my eyes, neither team is the underdogs or the favorites.”