Can anyone stop France? England's World Cup rivals assessed ahead of quarter-finals | OneFootball

The four best nations in the world face trickiest tests yet

The football part of this World Cup has been narrative-rich, an utter delight.

Paraguay stunned Germany; Cape Verde and Curacao thrilled; Africa rallied; and all three co-hosts made the knockout stages, an underappreciated ingredient for an entertaining major tournament.

Refereeing and VAR controversies crept closer to centre stage during the round of 16, but the arrival of the quarter-finals brings us to the business end of the tournament and, hopefully, better officiating with it. After an unprecedented amount of sifting and separating at the largest-ever World Cup, only eight teams remain. Each one will believe it can be them that prevails at the MetLife Stadium on July 19.

Thanks to Argentina’s extraordinary powers of recovery to clamber back from two goals with 12 minutes remaining to beat Egypt, the two sides of the draw have now balanced themselves out. The winners of France vs Morocco and Spain vs Belgium will contest one semi-final, while England or Norway and Switzerland or the Argentines will make up the other. Every last-eight game has a clear favourite, and an underdog.

Predicting how the knockout stages of a World Cup unravel is precarious business, yet there is no surprise in seeing France, Argentina, Spain and England all into the last eight. Not only are these the four top-ranked teams in the world, they were the four most widely tipped to lift the trophy before Mexico’s Brian Gutiérrez got the first ball rolling on the World Cup’s opening night four weeks ago.

Kylian Mbappe in France training

AFP/Getty

Can anyone stop France? A fair question before the tournament; even more pertinent now. They’ve won all five of their matches, failing to score as many as three goals in a single game only once, last time out, when kicked to high heaven by the Paraguayans.

In Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and the talismanic Kylian Mbappe, France possess the best front four by some distance. The quartet have 12 goals and nine assists between them in five games. This tournament is one last hurrah for veteran Didier Deschamps, an incentive to deliver a third crown. No one will fancy playing France.

The defending champions — France’s conquerors in 2022’s blockbuster final — are the only other team to have won all their matches in North America. After Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal said their goodbyes through gritted teeth, great rival Lionel Messi is setting this World Cup alight.

Messi is 39 yet leads the race for the golden boot with seven goals. He seemingly will not be denied, just like Argentina at large. They have come through successive rounds 3-2, by the skin of their teeth, but will have drawn so much camaraderie and confidence by doing so.

Spain were kept out by Cape Verde on opening night but have won all four games since then and are yet to concede a single goal at these finals. Teenage sensation Lamine Yamal is not yet firing, though, having just returned from injury. They are not the most high-octane, but could they steadily manage their way to a repeat of their 2010 triumph?

The other four must not discounted. Morocco became Africa’s first World Cup semi-finalists in four years ago and unprecedented levels of investment make them a genuine force, while Switzerland, quarter-finalists for the first time since 1954, are one of international football’s great overachievers of the last 20 years.

Belgium, meanwhile, are not what they were, are having to evolve beyond their golden generation, but hit top gear by knocking out co-hosts the USA on Monday.

And while England are the favourites on paper in Miami on Saturday, Norway are rowing through uncharted waters and have no desire to head home yet. One of these teams will never forget how the next ten days play out.