England vs Croatia: Luka Modric eventually gets better of Jordan Henderson as England's World Cup dream dies, scouting report

Henderson marshalled the midfield so well in England's historic run but eventually came unstuck against Luka Modric

When rumours emerged that Jordan Henderson’s hamstring injury would potentially rule him out of the semi-final, England held its collective breath. Nobody could have expected the Liverpool midfielder, once cruelly ridiculed for being Steven Gerrard’s supposed replacement, would become so important for England at a World Cup.

Henderson is unlike many of his teammates. You can imagine him tucked away in the corner of England’s Repino training base quietly reading to himself while occasionally looking up at Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford who are practising their next dance in a scene that would not look too dissimilar to a sixth form common room.

In the final third, Raheem Sterling, Lingard, Harry Kane and Lingard all put in maximum effort to ensure things are as chaotic as possible, in and out of possession. The result of that is England scored the most number of goals they have ever scored at a World Cup. Always watching on, observing the bedlam, was Henderson.

In possession Henderson lets Alli and Lingard enjoy the creative freedom Southgate has bestowed upon them. But the moment Croatia won the ball back, Henderson started barking orders to make sure they dropped back and nullified Croatia’s ridiculously talented midfield.

Luka Modric, who may be the best player at this tournament, and Ivan Rakitic have been dominating midfields throughout the tournament, which has been integral to Croatia’s progression. It was vital that England won the battle in the middle of the pitch and nullified their influence.

Kane and Sterling would press when Croatia’s back four had the ball, then Lingard and Alli closed down Modric and Rakitic if they got in possession. Anything after that was all Henderson’s and he knew exactly when to step in.“You can see that togetherness on the pitch now, and I think that's valuable in crucial moments in big games,” said Henderson who has an outstanding understanding of England’s tactics. For 55 minutes, things were going very well for England.

Henderson had marked Modric so well but the Croatian eventually won the midfield battle (EPA)

However, as the game wore on, Croatia managed to turn things around and Kieran Trippier’s early goal was cancelled out by Ivan Perisic. England were being outplayed in the middle of the pitch as Croatia eventually learned that if they quickly switch the ball there is only so much ground that Henderson could cover.

For all the hard work in the opening hour to keep Modric so quiet, Henderson and England had eventually succumb to the Real Madrid midfielder’s prowess. Both teams started looking tired even before extra-time, and with a player like Modric against them, this caused England many problems.

Modric’s time on the ball increased and with that the number of chances that Croatia created. Henderson had been so quick at closing down the space in midfield but Modric had started orchestrating the game to a level which left the England midfielder a mere spectator.

In extra-time Southgate had seen enough. Henderson made way for Eric Dier who was introduced to freshen up the England midfield after it had wearily limped to full time.

Henderson’s role in this side may never get the appreciation it deserved, and perhaps rightly so because England’s success has been entirely down to the team performances. But make no mistake, England’s run which ended in the semi-finals may not have been had it not been for Henderson’s vital role in Southgate’s system which has finally given England an identity again.