Many will not want to consider what could happen if England beat France, not wanting to fall into the classic traps of arrogance and expectancy English fans have been guilty of so often before.
But the optimists among us will recognise that there is at least a chance that England wake up on Sunday morning with a World Cup semi-final on the horizon.
It will not be easy, with France’s ferocious front-line of Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann standing in the way. There are 11 World Cup winners in this French squad, alongside the likes of Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga and Dayot Upamecano.
But if England do beat France in the Al Bayt Stadium at 7pm GMT this Saturday, who will be next for Gareth Southgate’s side?
Semi-final
After their shock win over Spain, Morocco are one of England’s two potential World Cup semi-final opponents. Wahid Regragui’s side have built their campaign on a rock-solid defence. They have only conceded once at this tournament and have kept seven clean sheets in the eight games of Regragui’s tenure.
Their key players are Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech and PSG’s Achraf Hakimi, whose cool “panenka” penalty won the Atlas Lions their last-16 tie. They beat Belgium 2-0 in the group stage and also drew 0-0 with Croatia, so you cannot consider them pushovers by any metric.
Their quarter-final is against Portugal, at 3pm GMT on Saturday. After benching Cristiano Ronaldo for their 6-1 last 16 win over Switzerland, it remains to be seen whether the 37-year-old will be back in Fernando Santos’ line-up for the quarter-final.
His return seems unlikely, especially after his replacement, Goncalo Ramos, scored a hat-trick in his first World Cup knockout match. Portugal put in one of the best performances of the tournament so far to annihilate Switzerland, playing free-flowing, destructive football, supposedly unburdened by Ronaldo’s absence.
England fans will look at Portugal as the tougher of these two potential semi-final clashes, but Morocco’s defensive record and star talent are not to be ignored.
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There are four potential final opponents for England: the Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil and Croatia.
Brazil and Argentina remain the bookies’ favourites for the World Cup, so it is no surprise to see both in the quarter-finals. Tite’s Brazil demolished South Korea 4-1 in their last 16 tie in a game which got the Selecao dancing, much to Roy Keane’s chagrin. With Neymar fully fit again and Richarlison and Vinicius Junior in form, there is really no limit to what this side can achieve.
They face 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia on Friday, who beat Japan on penalties after a cagy 1-1 draw. England know all about this Croatia side after they knocked them out of the semi-final in Russia. Still captained by a 37-year-old Luka Modric, this is a team experienced in winning major tournament knockout ties.
The other quarter-final is between Argentina and the Netherlands, a repeat of the famous 1998 clash remembered for Dennis Bergkamp’s iconic goal. Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands are still unbeaten in this tournament, having breezed through Group A and made light work of the US. Van Gaal has only lost one World Cup knockout tie across his two World Cups, and never lost in normal time, so this is unlikely to be an easy match-up.
Argentina and Lionel Messi recovered from their opening match loss to Saudi Arabia to breeze past Mexico, Poland and Australia and into the quarter-final. While Messi looks at his imperious best, the team around him has looked shaky and disconnected at points.
If England make it to the final, all these teams would present a stern challenge, but with the form the Three Lions are currently in, they will also believe anything is possible.
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