England face a tough route to the World Cup final in Qatar after their resounding 3-0 win over Senegal on Sunday night.
Reigning champions France and superstar striker Kylian Mbappe await in the next round, with Gareth Southgate's side returning to Al Bayt Stadium in the quarter-finals. Les Bleus progressed to the last eight with a convincing 3-1 victory over Poland and will face their cross-Channel rivals on Saturday 10 December, with kick-off at 7pm GMT.
France progressed thanks to a record-breaking goal from Olivier Giroud and two superb strikes from Mbappe, who pulled clear in the Golden Boot race. If England topple the World Cup holders, they face the prospect of a semi-final on Wednesday 14 December at 7pm GMT against Spain, Morocco, Portugal or Switzerland, who are in last-16 action on Tuesday.
In the other half of the draw, Argentina are on course to meet Brazil in what would be an epic semi-final showdown between the two South American heavyweights. After beating Australia 2-1 on Sunday, Lionel Messi's side face Netherlands in a quarter-final on Friday. Brazil take on South Korea on Monday and Portugal play Switzerland on Tuesday to decide the other quarter-final line-up.
The World Cup final will take place on Sunday 18 December at 3pm GMT, but Harry Kane stressed England are not getting ahead of themselves, with their full focus on the encounter against France. " We enjoy this one but our attention turns straight to that, it’s going to be a great game," the Three Lions captain said on ITV Sport after the victory over Senegal. "They're reigning champions, it'll be a good battle. We recover now and get ready for the next game."
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Kane's comments were echoed by Phil Foden, who said of France: " They look like the strongest up to now and everywhere you look they've got talented players but we back ourselves on the day and we're confident." The Manchester City playmaker added: " We're all buzzing with the result. We're going to celebrate tonight. It's knockout football now. We're going to have to recover and think about our next opponent, which is going to be really tough."
Gareth Southgate was just as complimentary about France, saying: They're an outstanding team with a phenomenal tournament record. They have some outstanding individuals and, for sure, it's a game where we have to find our level."
France have arguably the best striker in the world in their squad in the form of Paris Saint-Germain megastar Mbappe, who took his tally for the tournament to five goals with two more sublime efforts to sink Poland, who were soundly beaten despite Robert Lewandowski's late consolation goal from the penalty spot.
