World Cup 2019: How England might not qualify for the semifinals

The World Cup 2019 is nearing its business end. Soon, it will be very clear as to which four teams will be the ones that will go ahead to the semi-finals.

A week back, it seemed almost certain that the top four teams currently would be the teams eventually qualifying for the next stage. However, last week saw some good matches which have opened up the World Cup to a certain extent.

England lost to Sri Lanka on the 21st of June. This was by far one of the biggest upsets of the tournament. Now with three more matches to go, England are on 8 points after 6 matches.

The hosts were considered the strongest contenders when the tournament started. Also, for the most part, they have been playing like favourites. However, a loss to Pakistan and now to Sri Lanka have definitely dented their campaign.

England would still fancy their chances of advancing to the semi-finals. However, there a big catch in the equation. The remaining three games for England are the toughest games anyone could have asked for.

So far, the six matches that England have played have been against the bottom six teams. But now, England play Australia, India and New Zealand. These are the teams who along with England make up the current top 4 on the points table.

If the hosts want to qualify, they will have to win at least two of these three matches. There are three Asian teams in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan who still have a chance to qualify too. But for them to qualify, they will have to win all of their games and hope for England to lose all of theirs.

As of now, all three Asian teams have 2 wins each in their 6 matches. England, on the other hand, have 4 wins in 6 matches.

There is still a strong chance that it will be the hosts who go through into the knock-out stage. But losing all the three remaining games could be a possibility considering the level of opposition they face. And that would throw them out of the tournament.

England have a long and painful history of upsets in World Cups. In 2011, they lost against Ireland and in 2015, it was Bangladesh who knocked them out in the group stages itself. Will their loss to Sri Lanka in the 2019 edition come back to haunt them?

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