World Cup Quarterfinals: Preview (Day 2)

Do not believe a single thing the Qatar state media says about Qatar. It’s all lies. Same with FIFA. They’re all liars and hypocrites.

Saturday brings us two excellent matchups!

Portugal vs. Morocco – Saturday December 10th – 7 AM PST

Morocco has shocked the world twice already by beating Belgium and Spain, and they will look to do that for a third time against an in-form Portuguese side.

There’s no real mystery as to how this game will go from Morocco’s point of view. They are going to use their well-disciplined back-6 (4 defenders, a defensive mid, and the keeper) to sit back and park the proverbial bus. They will be more than happy to let Portugal have all the possession, just like they did against Spain. When they recover the ball, they will look to quickly play it long towards their pacey wingers/forwards like Hakim Ziyech. If they can get those forwards in behind the Portuguese defense regularly, it could be yet another upset for them. The longer this match stays at 0-0, the bigger the advantage for Morocco. All they need is one good opportunity to score, and they will likely take it. They are just the 4th African team in history to make the quarterfinals of the World Cup, but they will not want their Cinderella run to end here. They will go at the Portuguese when the opportunity presents itself to try and win. They’ll be penned in their own half for most of the match, but Portugal will need to be on their toes if/when the balls breaks for Morocco.

Portugal will be the toughest test for the north Africans so far. They have found good team chemistry despite the dramatics of one Cristiano Ronaldo, and they have a good mix of youth and experience. They scored for fun against the Swiss in the Round of 16, and I expect them to be on the front foot for most of this match. Striker Gonçalo Ramos, along with midfielders Bruno Fernandes and João Félix, will probably be responsible for Portugal’s attacking duties. All three of those players I just listed are in extremely good form right now. Without checking, I am fairly sure that Bruno leads all players in assists at this tournament. They are also much more direct than the Spanish, relying more on getting the ball forward quickly as opposed to trying to pass the opponent to death. Ramos also cannot be given any space when in the box, as he is capable of scoring from a variety of angles. If the Portuguese get a goal in the first half, it could be a very long day for Morocco.

Prediction: Portugal 1-0 Morocco (0-0 after 90 minutes, but Portugal gets the winner in extra time)

England vs. France – Saturday December 10th – 11 AM PST

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Nerves are through the roof for this one. Where to even begin? France are the defending world champions and certainly have the talent to win another World Cup this year. England were semi-finalists in 2018, and were runners-up at Euro 2021 last summer. Both sides are loaded with talent, and both sides have the ability to win this match. Along with Netherlands-Argentina, this match is as about as close as it gets to a toss-up.

The big threats from France come from all-world striker Kylian Mbappe and striker Olivier Giroud, who will be supported by the likes of wingers Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann. All four of those guys are capable of winning matches on their own, particularly Mbappe. The man is in sensational form right now and leads all other scorers in the race for the Golden Boot. He not only has Olympic-caliber sprinting abilities, he also has the ability to score from almost anywhere inside 20 yards. His two finishes against Poland in the Round of 16 were real “poacher’s” goals, as they were hit not only with power but precision and from a fair bit of distance. Put simply, he is the main source of inspiration for the French and will need to be closely marshalled by the England defense. If he is given too much space in the box, France will score. One concern for the French is their number of injuries, and perhaps a lack of pace in the back line. France are extremely deep even with injuries to Paul Pogba, Karim Benzema, and Christopher Nkunku, but as a result of those absences they are perhaps not as deep as they were when they won in 2018. I also think their fullbacks Jules Kounde and Theo Hernandez lack a little bit of pace. That hasn’t hurt them so far, but they have not played an attack like England’s yet. This is not to say that the French back line isn’t good, as they are indeed anchored by world-class center back Raphael Varane. I do think however that attacks down the wings will create the most problems for France.

As for England, well, there is no denying their talent in attack. Going forward, this might be the strongest England side I have ever seen. They have the big physical center forward in Harry Kane, and he is often supported by forwards/wingers Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, and Phil Foden. All four of them have scored at this tournament, and while Kane’s goals are slightly down he has contributed in other ways. His passes from midfield that find the runs of Rashford and Foden have been absolutely deadly. Whether Kane is in the box or distributing from midfield, he will have a very important role to play. Tactically I think manager Gareth Southgate will be happy to concede a little bit of possession to the French, as England’s first two goals in the Round of 16 against Senegal came via quick counter-attack moves. Midfielder Jude Bellingham will also have a vital role to play, as he is usually the one who carries the ball forward through midfield while riding challenges from the opposition. His balance and technique on the ball are among the best I have ever seen from a midfielder his size, and he is still only 19. England’s back line and defense will be tested against the French, but so far they have largely passed all tests presented to them. Interestingly, the best form of defense for England will be a good attack. If we keep the French on their toes and wary of us breaking on them, they will have a harder time throwing men forward.

It’s going to take the collective efforts of everyone in a Three Lions shirt to get a win on Saturday. Total focus and concentration. One error could be the difference between the semifinals and a flight home. This England team has taken so many major steps forward since 2018, and they must continue to do so here. A win over the French at the World Cup would be historic. They are a formidable foe, but then again, so are England. Southgate must take the handbrake off for this team and let them run at the French defense. If we lose, it will be because we played too conservatively.

Prediction: both teams to score at least one, but I am not going to pick a winner. Whatever I say, it will somehow negatively affect England. Superstition abounds right now.

World Cup Round of 16 – Portugal Advance, Morocco Shocks the World Again

The author of this blog is a proud supporter of women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and religious minorities. Qatar, and FIFA by association, are not.

Last matches of the Round of 16 today! Can’t believe this tournament is well over halfway done.

Portugal vs. Switzerland

Portugal were favored coming into this match, but I thought that Switzerland stood a good chance of at least forcing penalties if they were well-organized defensively. I was wrong. Portugal simply have too much quality and they won 6-1, the largest margin of victory so far at this World Cup. Manager Fernando Santos surprisingly omitted striker Cristiano Ronaldo from his starting line-up, which was the biggest headline pre-match.

As indicated by the score line though, it’s clear that Portugal do not need Ronaldo anymore. 21 year-old striker (on in place of Ronaldo) Gonçalo Ramos opened the scoring on 17 minutes with an absolute scorcher of a shot. There didn’t appear to be any space to get a shot away on goal given the tight angle and close range, but the finish from Ramos here was truly spectacular. Rifled into the roof of the net, with Swiss keeper Yann Sommer having no chance at it. Center back Pepe added Portugal’s second from a corner on 33 minutes, with the massive defender getting his head to the ball ahead of his marker. Again, nothing Sommer could really do about it. It was 2-0 at half time and it seemed that the Swiss were already up against the wall.

Portugal’s dominance only grew as the match wore on, with Ramos getting the third from close range on 51 minutes. Left back Raphaël Guerreiro then got it on the scoring with a fine finish on 55 minutes after a pass from Ramos, and then Ramos sealed his first World Cup hat-trick (and the first one of this World Cup) on 67 minutes after being put through on goal by midfielder João Félix. Switzerland did manage to get a goal from a set piece sandwiched between the 4th and 5th goals for Portugal, and it was a close range finish from defender Manuel Ankanji.

Portugal’s sixth goal on the day came in stoppage time, and it was a wonderfully curled home finish by substitute forward Rafael Leão. Utter dominance from the Portuguese today, and there is obviously a massive gulf in talent between them and the Swiss. Ronaldo did come on as a substitute once the game was won, but failed to make a meaningful contribution.

The biggest difference between this Portugal and the Portugal of recent years is the quality they have in the team aside from Ronaldo. Bruno Fernandes, Félix, and Bernardo Silva are all world-class midfielders and their quality shown through today. Not many outside of Portugal knew about Ramos before today, but the whole world knows his name now. A hat-trick at the World Cup has certainly increased his price tag for clubs interested in his services. The whole team played well, though. This was domination from start to finish by Portugal. They will feel extremely confident going into the quarterfinals.

The Swiss are indeed going home but they achieved probably all they could have reasonably expected to achieve. They got out of a tough group with Brazil and Serbia after all. But again, the talent was the difference today. I keep going back to that first goal as a great example of it. Ramos was marked tightly and Sommer appeared to have the angle covered, but he saw that good defending and good keeping and displayed some even better attacking play. Sometimes you can do everything right, and the opposition will still get the better of you.

Morocco vs. Spain

Classic David vs. Goliath story here, with Spain playing the role of goliath. The 2010 world champions and two-time European champions were beaten today by the last African team left at the tournament – Morocco. After 90 minutes it was 0-0, and still 0-0 at 120 minutes. When it came time for penalties, it was the north Africans who showed more poise! After all, why wouldn’t they? This is a team that has already beaten the likes of Belgium and drawn with Croatia at this very tournament.

There aren’t any goals to write about, but this game went how most predicted it would. Spain would have all the possession, while Morocco looked to use their pacey wingers and forwards to hit them on the counter-attack. And for 120 minutes, that’s exactly what happened. The first 45 was tepid as neither team really went for it. Spain had all the possession as noted, but the possession lacked purpose. They began to edge the ball forward more in the second half, but every time they played in a cross or down low through the middle, a Moroccan player was there to clear it or put a block in. At the other end, Morocco did well on several occasions to build attacks, but the Spanish always got back quickly as well to snuff out any threats. Keeper Unai Simón was called into action sparingly, while his counterpart Yassine Bounou (spelled Bono on the back of his shirt for some reason) was decidedly busier.

Attacking midfielder Pablo Sarabia hit the post in the dying seconds of extra time in added time, but that was about as close as Spain got to finding their goal. Penalties loomed large. Interestingly, Spain manager Luis Enrique told the media pre-match that he had required each of his players to take 1000 penalties each in training to prepare for a shoot-out should it happen. If that’s true, perhaps they should have taken 2000 apiece because they were utterly dismal in the penalty shootout. Bounou (who I will refer to as Bono from here on out) made two key saves from midfielders Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets. Their penalties lacked pace and placement, and Bono was all over them. Routine saves, but saves that needed to be made nevertheless.

The Moroccans approached the penalty shootout with confidence though, scoring on three of four attempts. The winner, scored by Spanish-born right back Achraf Hakimi, was particularly ballsy. He went for the Panenka, a term used for a penalty shot chipped in the air right down the middle that goes in due to the keeper diving left or right, first introduced to the world by Czech winger Antonin Panenka in 1976. It’s a risky way to do it though, because if the keeper doesn’t dive it’s an easy save for him and the taker looks like an idiot. But when it goes in, it looks super badass. What a way to send your team to its first-ever World Cup quarterfinal! Ice in his veins.

While Spain were boring and lacking in creativity, a massive amount of credit needs to be given to Bono, Hakimi, center back Nayef Aguerd, center back Romain Saïss, left back Noussair Mazraoui, and defensive midfielder Sofyan Amrabat. Those six men are the main reason why Morocco progressed today. It was an absolutely brilliant display of team defense and discipline against a more-talented Spanish side. For long portions of this match, it was just Spain’s waves of attack crashing repeatedly against a Moroccan sea wall. Morocco couldn’t get out of their own half for any significant period of time, so the defense was required to be focused and in-position for almost the entire match. Amrabat in particular popped up basically everywhere, and he was usually making a key tackle or interception. Spain did lack creativity going forward today, but all credit to the back six of Morocco and manager Walid Regragui for implementing and executing an amazing game plan.

It’s been said a million times this tournament and I say it again now: you don’t always win on talent alone!

Quarterfinals – Portugal vs. Morocco – Saturday, December 10th – 7 AM PST