Can an ‘ageing’ Croatia cease the Seleção machine?
Croatia could be counting their fortunate stars to have made it to the ultimate eight, after Japan gave them an unimaginable run for his or her cash within the Spherical of 16. The AFC associates pushed the 2018 runners-up all the way in which to penalties after opening the scoring within the first half, with three penalty saves from Croatia gloveman Dominik Livakovic being all that separated the 2 sides.
With the excessive variety of skilled gamers of their squad being famous as a possible barrier of their Qatar 2022 prospects by some, together with SBS World Cup analyst Sarah Walsh, the veteran-heavy aspect might battle in opposition to the tempo and vitality of a rampant Brazil outfit in the event that they battle to carry out in defence.
Will probably be troublesome a activity for the Croatian backline, which boasts each youth and expertise in centre-back duo Joško Gvardiol and Dejan Lovren respectively, to include Brazil’s quite a few attacking shops within the quarter-finals. However make no mistake – Luka Modric and Croatia shall be able to spring a serious upset within the context of the event, significantly because the Croatian captain goes head-to-head with three of his Actual Madrid teammates in Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Éder Militão.
Can Argentina proceed their robust restoration?
Ranked third on the planet, Argentina stay one of many agency favourites to take dwelling the trophy from Qatar, and with a possible semi-final assembly in opposition to South American rivals Brazil on the playing cards, it could seem the winner of that match could be a powerful likelihood of claiming their third or sixth World Cup titles, respectively, if it occurs.
The Argentinians steadied, nonetheless, claiming back-to-back 2-0 wins in opposition to Mexico and Poland to prime the group, thanks partly to the aim energy of seven-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi and fellow ahead Julian Alvarez. The South People survived a late scare of their Spherical of 16 match in opposition to the Socceroos, because the Aussies halved a two-goal deficit with lower than quarter-hour remaining and got here agonisingly near netting a late equaliser.
The organised defensive construction of Louis van Gaal’s aspect shall be troublesome to interrupt down, with a again three consisting of Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, Manchester Metropolis’s Nathan Ake and Jurriën Timber of Ajax. Van Gaal’s pragmatic method in defence is usually complimented by their velocity up entrance, with three-time scorer Cody Gakpo and Memphis Depay seeking to trigger complications for the Argentina backline.
Relaxation assured, the event type and energy of each groups throughout all areas of the park has the makings for an exciting knock-out match.
Mbappe v Walker – who wins?
One match-up famous by some as the place the sport shall be gained and misplaced is between French attacker Kylian Mbappe and England’s Kyle Walker, the previous main the scoring for the event with 5 objectives.
“That does not imply that Kyle will mark him out of the sport. This can be a sensational participant, the brand new greatest participant on the planet. Devastating.”
Meanhwile, former England worldwide Theo Walcott claims that though Mbappe is a “completely different beast”, he would “battle” in opposition to Walker on this match. Who is aware of what is going to occur?
Can Morocco shock the world as soon as extra?
Regardless of boasting a powerful squad, Morocco would have doubtless been a workforce that slipped underneath most individuals’s radar forward of Qatar 2022. The African aspect began the event by holding 2018 runners-up Croatia, earlier than beautiful Canada and second-ranked Belgium to prime Group F.
Maybe solely the statistics from Nielsen Gracenote, who rated Morocco as the very best African workforce forward of the World Cup, and probably the most eagle-eyed of event onlookers might have probably predicted Morocco’s fast rise at Qatar 2022. This could greater than clarify the shock behind their imminent quarter-finals berth on the event, which was sealed with a penalty-shoot-out win over European heavyweights Spain within the Spherical of 16.
Even with out Cristiano Ronaldo, who performed simply 22 minutes off the bench in opposition to the Swiss, the Portuguese look harmful and can pose a large problem to the fairytale workforce of the 2022 finals.