4️⃣ questions ahead of the World Cup quarter-finals ❓ | OneFootball

We’ve reached the business end of the World Cup.

What can we expect from the four quarter-finals this weekend?

Will the Samba boys get moving again?

Brazil’s four goals in 36 minutes against South Korea set out a statement to the rest of the tournament. There’s an old football cliche that suggests a ‘World Cup hasn’t truly begun until Brazil have started playing’, well Tite’s side have well and truly started playing and the rest of the world has taken notice.

The team standing in the way of the Seleção and a first semi-final since 2014 is an opponent they have never lost to in four appearances, including two meetings at a World Cup finals.

The five-time winners were favourites before a ball was even kicked, and after navigating their way through the group stage with little fuss but also without looking too dominating, they really staked their claim in the last-16.

Neymar is back and purring, Richarlison has stepped up to the plate and Lucas Paquetá looks an entirely different player in the yellow shirt than he does in a West Ham one.

Will Brazil put on another show to set up a potential mouth-watering semi-final with Argentina?

What are Argentina made of?

It feels an age away but its only 18 days since Argentina’s campaign started with that shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia.

Since then, they’ve narrowly manoeuvred their way through victories against Mexico, Poland and Australia. Now they come up against a team considered to be on a similar level we are about to get a view on just how good Lionel Scaloni’s team actually are.

There has been an abundance of passion on show helped by dashes of magic by Lionel Messi but we are yet to see any remnants of the high-energy and fluid attacking play La Albiceleste showed during their 35-match unbeaten run, which was ended by the Saudis.

But they stand just two wins away from the final and if there was ever a time to show the world what they are made of, it is now.

Will Louis van Gaal have a trick up his sleeve or will Messi’s World Cup dream continue?

Can Morocco pull off another shock?

The Atlas Lions are purring. Morocco’s stunning penalty shootout victory over Spain on Tuesday booked their place in the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

Walid Regragui’s men have been almost impeachable in their four games so far, conceding just one goal and their watertight defensive shape restricted Spain to just one shot on target over 120 minutes in their round-of-16 tie.

The only African side remaining at the tournament may have only scored four goals but they have a plan and are very good at pulling that off. Portugal will have to be patient if they aren’t going to face a similar fate to their Iberian neighbours – being frustrated and then picked off on the counter.

There are questions to be answered in the Portuguese camp as well – will Fernando Santos stick to his guns and keep Cristiano Ronaldo on the sidelines?

His replacement Gonçalo Ramos did his case no harm in the 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland, scoring a hat-trick on his first international start. Portugal looked like a team that had been released from their shackles in that game, the attack knitted together better than in previous games with Ronaldo up top and suddenly the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva had space to shine.

Saturday’s clash represents a whole new test.

How will England stop Kylian Mbappé?

Perhaps this question is a rhetorical one.

Is there any way to stop Mbappé? Perhaps France are the ones that should be worried. England are the joint-highest goalscorers at the tournament with Portugal (12) with eight different players chipping in, Gareth Southgate has left the handbrake off and the car is doing 90 in a 40 zone.

There will be curiosity over the England team news when it drops on Saturday. Southgate may revert back to the five-at-the-back formation he adopted during Euro 2020, giving them greater defensive stability for their battle with the PSG forward.

It will be a cautionary tale told if the England head coach moves away from the system that has worked so well in Qatar so far but at this stage of the tournament its about what gets to you closer to the holy grail by whatever means necessary.

Will an extra defender be enough to clip the wings of the French superstar who is currently way out in front in the Golden Boot race? England’s quest to end 56 years of hurt rests on the answer.