England face Sweden as hosts take on Croatia in quarterfinals today

REPINO, July 06 (Agencies): Enthused by an exciting young squad and a potentially kind draw against Sweden in Saturday's quarter-final, England fans are starting to believe they can end a 52-year wait to win the World Cup.

But the obdurate Scandinavians have a habit of upsetting the odds, particularly against England, having lost just one of eight previous competitive meetings.

Confidence in England is soaring after the team ended a long wait to win a World Cup penalty shootout, squeezing past Colombia in a tense and bad-tempered last-16 tie in Moscow.

"We'd like to bring it home," said England defender John Stones on Thursday. "I'd love to win a World Cup, England would love to win a World Cup.

England, World Cup winners in 1966, have already won over a public disaffected by an early exit in Brazil four years ago and an embarrassing defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.

Gareth Southgate's men have been drawing more viewers for their matches in Russia than May's royal wedding, with 23.6 million tuning in for the shootout against Colombia.

"I'm getting videos and pictures from my friends back home watching the game, in the pubs, wherever they are in the country."

With just a four-day turnaround to facing Sweden in Samara, though, England have little time to replenish their energy.

Sweden have arguably faced a much tougher path to get to the last eight, eliminating the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying just to get to Russia and then emerging as winners of Group F as holders Germany crashed out.

Shorn of star names since Zlatan Ibrahimovic's retirement from international football, Sweden have thrived off a collective team spirit.

Happy to sacrifice possession, defend deep and wait for their opportunity on the counter-attack, they will let England have most of the ball.

But other than in a 6-1 thrashing of Panama in the group stages, England have struggled to create chances from open play, with seven of their nine goals so far coming from set-pieces and penalties.

Meanwhile, Croatia are targeting the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1998 -- when they made their debut as an independent nation on football's biggest stage.

Zlatko Dalic's side showed in their comprehensive dismantling of Argentina during the group phase that they have no fear of the big names, and there is a strong case to say they are the best team left in their half of the draw.

England might disagree, and the two countries could yet meet in the semi-finals.

However, while Croatia needed penalties to beat Denmark in the last round, they have come to Sochi full of confidence.

Russia will try to keep their unlikely dream alive on Saturday when the host nation face Croatia in their first World Cup quarter-final since 1970.

It has been an enchanted summer for the world's largest nation as it hosts the biggest event in sport.

Russia's once-hapless team have suddenly turned into giantslayers who dispatched 2010 champions Spain in the last 16 and are now seriously contemplating reaching the July 15 final.

Cherchesov has several issues to resolve, with his midfield the biggest worry.

Alan Dzagoev has recovered from a hamstring injury, but is still unable to take a full part in training while Samedov sat on the sidelines on Tuesday with an unspecified fitness problem. Fellow midfielder Yuri Zhirkov has been ruled out injured and is unlikely to feature again, unless the hosts make it to the final in Moscow on July 15, according to Cherchesov.

The midfield is seen as a key battleground on Saturday, with Croatia's midfielder Luka Modric regarded as one of the best exponents in the world.

Croatia's midfielder Luka Modric (left) and Russia's midfielder Aleksandr Golovin — AFP