QUARTER FINALS PREVIEW WITH UK KICK-OFF TIMES
1 Thursday 9th July – Boston – 9pm
France v Morocco
France come into the game having survived against a Paraguay team who fouled and intimidated the French throughout. A game that was decided when France were awarded a penalty by VAR which Mbappe scored to take his tally for the tournament to 7 goals level with Messi and his overall World Cup goals to 19 in 19 games.
Morocco were send best for long spells against Canada and their 3-0 win was flattering in the end. Morocco seem to be suffered with a mounting injuries and perhaps signs of a team running out of steam, as they go further in the World Cup.
I think the depth of the French squad will come to the fore and see France into the semi finals.
2 Friday 10th July – Los Angeles – 8pm
Spain v Belgium
Spain and Belgium both seem to be improving as the World Cup goes along.
Spain neat and tidy football is a given but their strong defence maybe just gives them an edge as Lamine Yamal slowly returns from injury. They managed to get past Portugal 1-0 with the one real piece of quality football. Belgium inspired by the FIFA nonsense showed perhaps moving on from their golden age players is the way forward and comfortably saw off USA 4-1 in similar fashion to their 5-2 friendly win in March.
I would expect the quality of Spain to be too much for a Belgian defence which hasn’t shown to be that good under pressure.
3 Saturday 11th July – Miami – 10pm
England v Norway
England’s superior quality saw off Mexico with Bellingham scoring twice which allowed them to survive a red card and Mexican onslaught although in reality they lacked the quality to break England down.
Norway despite giving away two penalties saw off Brazil very comfortably once the first penalty was saved and Haaland waited for his opportunities late in the game to strike the crucial blows.
I think this could be another game with a few goals with both teams having better attacking players than in defence.
This is the end could come down to which team defends better and I can see this going deep into extra time before a winning goal is scored.
I can see Norway with Haaland scoring the goal that ends up England’s World Cup run after the high of their win in Mexico (pardon the pun ! )
4 Sunday 12th July – Kansas City – 2am
Argentina v Switzerland
Argentina showed great ability and resilience to come from 2-0 down to beat Egypt 3-2 but were perhaps fortunate not to concede another goal at 1-0 when Egypt scored a superb goal but VAR pulled it back for an earlier foul.
Messi now on to 8 goals for the tournament despite missing his second penalty of this World Cup.
Switzerland were fortunate to beat Colombia on penalties after a drab 0-0 draw.
Argentina with their attacking power should prove enough to win.
Football is Academical 