Lee Carsley, England's Under-21 assistant head coach, and Paul Simpson, who runs the Under-20 team were at Anfield on Tuesday to watch the pair in the fourth round replay against Shrewsbury.

Former England captain Dave Watson has a neurodegenerative disease that was 'most likely' brought on by head injuries and repeated heading of the ball during his playing days.

CLAIRE BLOOMFIELD AT THE TOYOTA STADIUM: England end their SheBelieves Cup campaign with just three points from three games after losing 1-0 to Spain in Dallas.

His manager Lucien Favre has decided to discipline his star man for the Bundesliga clash despite Sancho chipping in with three goals and five assists in six appearances this season.

England lost 3-0 to Germany in that fixture at Wembley five years ago, as they played in front of a record 45,619 crowd. On Saturday, the Lionesses will play in a near full house.

Sven-Goran Eriksson twice led England to the World Cup last-eight stage during his reign as manager, and he has been impressed with Gareth Southgate's squad so far in Russia.

While Belgium, Brazil, France, Uruguay and Co battle it out for one spot in the final, the other team will be one of Russia, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Colombia, Switzerland or England.

With England through to the quarter-finals, here is all you need to know about the history of England vs Sweden matches including the results, head-to-head stats and the 2002 World Cup meeting.

The long-standing rivalry between England and Scotland means many Scots support whichever team is playing against their south of the border neighbours.

Thousands of England fans will have woken up on Wednesday morning with one question on their minds: how do I get to Russia for Saturday's quarter-final? 

England and Sweden will meet on Saturday, with Janne Andersson's side ranked as the underdogs ahead of the clash in Samara. Sportsmail takes a closer look at the Three Lions' next opponents.

Swedish football fans - one of whom is an MP - said their team will defeat England in the World Cup on Saturday as they referenced a massacre in 793.

Sweden have lit the blue touchpaper before Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final with England by accusing Ashley Young of diving. Young has been criticised in the past for going to ground too easily.

Sweden have taken off for Samara ahead of their World Cup quarter final — a full day ahead of their opponents England. Gareth Southgate's squad will fly in from Saint Petersburg on Friday.

A colony of penguins at an aquarium in Birmingham have picked England to win in their World Cup quarter final fixture against Sweden this Saturday.

The Russian National Tourist Office reiterated on social media on Thursday morning that the embassy was now making an exception to their usual process and issuing visas within one working day.

Certain airlines including Emirates, Etihad, American Airlines and Qatar Airways will be broadcasting England's World Cup quarter final live on Saturday afternoon.

Gareth Southgate's buoyant team face Sweden on Saturday, knowing a win will put them into the semi-final for the first time in 28 years, where they will either face Croatia or hosts Russia.

England will have learned plenty from their penalty shootout win over Colombia and are aware of the barrier Sweden represent. Sportsmail looks at how the quarter-final might be won and lost

James Milner has revealed that he is excited to get the pre-season underway but insists their first fixtures has ruined his World Cup wall chart as Liverpool's first friendly clashes with England's quarter-final.

The unnamed bride, based in England, posted an angry Facebook post declaring that 'under no circumstances' would the match be shown. She has also asked guests to not check the score.

Few countries have crossed paths with England as regularly as Sweden. Ahead of the seismic meeting in Samara, Sportsmail spoke to some of the key players in those dramas.

SAMI MOKBEL IN SAMARA: Southgate, who has considered giving his midfield a defensive feel against Swedenn by starting with Dier in place of Alli, has nurtured a feeling of togetherness.

Steven Gerrard is confident England can beat Sweden in their World Cup quarter-final because they no longer have a maverick such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

After a nerve-racking penalty shootout victory against Colombia, England are in a buoyant mood and triumph against Sweden would set them up with a semi-final clash against either Croatia or Russia.

The last time a Scandinavian nation beat England in the World cup the reaction from Norwegian commentator Bjørge Lillelien was pretty un-Scandinavian to say the least.

Gareth Southgate's England side take on Sweden in Samara on Saturday afternoon with a place in the semi-finals at stake and the excitement levels are at boiling point.

The hours are ticking down to England's World Cup quarter-final against Sweden and the fans are in Samara soaking up the atmosphere ahead of their biggest game in a generation.

In the Samara Arena, situated on the banks of the River Volga in a far-flung corner of the sprawling Russian Motherland, an England team made history.

SAMI MOKBEL AT THE SAMARA ARENA: Goals by Harry Maguire and Dele Alli capped off a relatively comfortable afternoon for England and they now await either Croatia or host Russia in the last four.

It was an eventful game on the pitch but there were a number of events taking place off it as well. From a spare Gareth Southgate in the stands to how fans tried to keep up to date at wedding ceremonies.

England have booked their place in the semi-finals at the World Cup and it was all down to hard work on and off the pitch throughout the tournament, says BBC pundit Alan Shearer. 

It was another memorable victory for England as they beat Sweden 2-0 to reach the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in 28 years. 

ROB DRAPER IN SAMARA: Make no mistake. In the Samara Arena, situated on the banks of the River Volga in a far-flung corner of Russia, an England team made history.

Bluewater in Kent, one of the country's biggest shopping centres was like a ghost town. The usually bustling indoor shopping street saw barely anyone frequent the big name high street chains.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic appears to be ready to hold up his end of the bargain he has with David Beckham after his beloved Sweden were knocked out of the World Cup by England on Saturday.

ADAM SHERGOLD AT WHITEHALL STADIUM: England ended their Under 17s European Championship campaign on a winning note but it wasn’t enough to carry them to the quarter-finals.

Pep Guardiola has maintained he cannot be held responsible if £49million defender John Stones misses out on Euro 2020 due to a lack of game time at Manchester City.

Since the shambolic viewings four years ago, England have started to assemble a side capable of going all the way and Southgate deserves credit for putting faith in the next generation.

Sportsmail provide you with full fixtures, kick-off times, TV coverage and how Wales, England or Ireland can win the 2019 Six Nations in the final round.

Get ready for the final round of the 2019 Six Nations with everything on the line for England, Wales and Ireland as they look to win the title. Sportsmail will provide details of dates, KO times and channels.

England coach Eddie Jones emphatically ruled out coaching the British & Irish Lions in 2021, while taking a swipe at Wales counterpart Warren Gatland.

England want all three available to take on Ireland to offset any need to pitch Billy Vunipola into a third Test in as many weeks. All three trained on Wednesday at England's Pennyhill Park camp.

Johnny Sexton has missed out on Ireland's World Cup warm-up clash with England at Twickenham on Saturday. The fly-half sat out of training at the start of the week in Portugal.

England have reverted to the 10-12 alliance of George Ford and captain Owen Farrell for Saturday's clash against Ireland at Twickenham, in a line-up featuring nine changes.

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: It is exactly the team I would have picked for a must-win game at the tournament. This is the first time he has put his full strength side out in these warm-up games.

CHRIS FOY AT TWICKENHAM: The match tickets proclaimed 'this is no warm-up' and on a scorching, record-breaking day here, Manu Tuilagi and England proved too hot to handle.

RORY KEANE: This Ireland squad were primed to reach a first-ever World Cup semi-final, and possibly more. But they have been seemingly in free-fall since the events of February 2 at the Aviva.

One week and 12 matches in the Rugby World Cup and we have our first rest day, which seems a natural time to take stock ahead of a jam-packed weekend. Here is our team of the week...

SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: This game will be massive. So far in Anglo-Australian encounters at World Cups we have one victory apiece in the final, two England quarter-final wins and two Aussie pool wins.