After 56 games and two strange days of truce without him, the quarterfinals will arrive, eight teams playing heads or crosses the penultimate round until reaching the final on the 18th. Among the powers only Germany and Spain, who curiously shared group in the first phase, they have been left out. The rest, with the exception of Morocco, the surprising intruder, are teams with a great tradition. The Netherlands and Croatia are the hidden ones, a final between France and Brazil stands out as the most probable, while Messi's Argentina and Kane's England are pushing hard to break that forecast. Tomorrow the quarterfinals start with a Croatia-Brazil (16h) and a Netherlands-Argentina (20h). The caviar arrived in Qatar.
The Netherlands easily beat the USA in the round of 16 and the Oranje expedition was greeted at their hotel with music and applause. The players, led by Memphis Depay, danced in and Van Gaal appeared at the age of 71, moving his skeleton like no other. Having overcome cancer and with nothing to prove, the coach leads a team with much less quality than its predecessors and an unattractive game, but with that air of a team with little to lose that can be an advantage. His pillars are three: Van Dijk behind, Frenkie de Jong in the middle and Gakpo, in attack.
Argentina advances hand in hand with Leo Messi. Their rivals so far have been little (Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland and Australia) but without the figure of ten it is easy to imagine where they would be. At 35 years old, Messi is the body and soul of a team that he has in his fans the second great player of his. Scaloni, his coach, has changed things from the beginning to improve. The inclusion of the youngsters Julián Álvarez and Enzo Fernández in the eleven has given it a more renewed air. But forget it, if this team goes far it will be because of Messi. He is moved to see a group and a country hanging from a single type. If he wins the World Cup, it will be memorable.
There are good footballers who become giants wearing their country's jersey. Ivan Perisic is a paradigmatic case. The 33-year-old striker already had an extraordinary World Cup in Russia, where Croatia reached the final, and in this he has once again stood out: he scored the equalizer against Japan with a difficult long header. The strength of the Croatians lies in their competitive gene and the quality of their midfielders. Of course Modric, fireproof at 37, but also Kovacic and Brozovic. Croatia is worse than in 2018, but to belittle them is to be wrong.
In the round of 16, the English struck down Senegal with a game of supersonic speed and surgical precision. Southgate exploits the best virtues of his attacking flank, with Captain Harry Kane and the very talented Bellingham commanding operations and leading the way with Foden and Saka exploiting his skill and finishing. The new generation pushes and has endowed England with a determination that they did not have. In the World Cup in Russia they were semifinalists and in the last Eurocup they lost the final against Italy. England, the birthplace of soccer, is inching towards that goal they touched only once in 1966. The World Cup is drawing near but the next hurdle is huge. This Saturday, in one of the World Cup matches, France, the reigning champion, awaits one of the best-looking applicants.
France has it all. Benzema, the Ballon d'Or winner, was injured, but the structure continues to resist with a granite defence, a midfield that combines muscle and technique and a forward in which Griezmann looks like another and Mbappé is the same as always, that is, the best and most unbalancing footballer today. The PSG striker has already scored five goals in Qatar and is on his way to once again being the figure of the World Cup as he was in Russia four years ago. What is most surprising about the case is that he is only 23 years old. Fast, skillful, lethal... With him, France is the great favourite.
It is the fourth African team to reach the quarterfinals (the previous ones were Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana) and the only one from the Muslim sphere to survive in Qatar. The host country, in fact, has adopted it as a favorite team. On Tuesday night, after eliminating Spain, Moroccan and local fans mixed in the streets of Doha to celebrate the historic pass. Despite the quality of some of their forwards, with Ziyech and Boufal leading the way, it was their ultra-defensive commitment that led to their success against Spain. They won Belgium by being more daring. They have both facets.
Portugal has twice been in the news in Qatar. In the first place, to confirm the consolidation of a team full of great players ready to make the big leap. We are talking about Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and João Félix, for example. And second, and more important, for a decision that could mark his definitive takeoff: the substitution of Cristiano Ronaldo, a footballer today in the twilight phase, in the round of 16 against Switzerland. Far from harming him, Portugal unleashed (6-1) and Cristiano's replacement, Gonçalo Ramos, signed the first hat trick of the tournament. Cristiano's tantrum no longer has an effect. Portugal prefers him sitting.
