England's young guns ready to douse Croatia's fire

WHEN it comes to suffering World Cup semi-final heartbreaks, England and Croatia are two nations that know just how traumatic the experience can be.

It has been 28 long years since England last reached the final four of football's most prestigious tournament, and the pain of being eliminated by the eventual champions West Germany in a penalty shootout is still too much to bear for many of their fans even until today.

Those who watched the drama unfold in Turin that fateful night will remember Paul Gascoigne weeping on the field after getting a yellow card that would have ruled him out of the final, and the agony of Stuart Pierce and Chris Waddle's missed penalties in the shootout that gave the Germans the win.