World Cup 2018: 3 Flops Who Reached The Semi-Finals

#1 Raheem Sterling

Sterling holds his head after one of his typical misses

The Sterling that has donned the England jersey is the one who has in the past been guilty of missing clear-cut chances. England boss Gareth Southgate has surprisingly stuck by Sterling in his starting line up despite his failure to impress on several occasions.

Sterling is a player with two sides and a manager is never sure which side will turn up on matchday. On one side, he is a devastating forward who torments defenders with his movement and scores goals.

On the other, he can become the type of unreliable forward who you do not fancy to score even in one-on-one situations with the goalkeeper. For Manchester City last season, he pumped in over 20 goals to earn his place in Russia.

In his 3-5-2 formation, Southgate has preferred to play Sterling as a number 10 behind Harry Kane in England's front line up. He has started all but one of England's five matches in the competition. Only one of his seven attempts at goal has been on target and he has lost the ball 21 times.

England's fairytale run to the semi-final cannot cloud the fact that one of their front men has been a weak link. This was clearly seen in England's comfortable quarter-final win over Sweden on July 7, 2018.

In the 45th minute of the match, Sterling was through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat. He unsuccessfully tried to go round Robin Olsen. Even with the chance gone, he should have passed to Kane or Delle Alli at the far post who had a clear sight of an open goal.

He opted to force the issue by going on his own which allowed defender Andreas Granqvist to make the block.