We’re into the quarter-final stages this week, and it’s time to look back at the incredible resilience shown by Belgium, why there’s more at stake than usual for Morocco and which quarter-final involves two teams that can be described as ‘frenemies’.
What Happened This Week
Here are two World Cup stories that caught our eye over the last week and which are worth revisiting.
Messi Still Standing in the Battle of the Goats
The ‘Ronaldo or Messi?’ debate will probably go on long after both have retired.
Of course, there’s no definitive answer to the question, but right now, if this were a tennis match, it would be ‘advantage Messi’.
Though Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals in this World Cup, his Portugal side were knocked out by Spain in the Last 16 with a tame, unadventurous display by the team as a whole, with CR7 criticised for a virtually anonymous performance. Not for the first time this World Cup.
Ronaldo is yet to announce his international retirement, but that was definitely his last World Cup match, and it’s surely only a matter of time before he calls it a day entirely.
Meanwhile, the following day, Messi was scoring his eighth goal of the tournament, his 21st World Cup goal in total and helping Argentina recover from 2-0 down against Egypt to win 3-2 and book a quarter-final date with Switzerland. Argentina are 1.67 to win the match in 90 minutes, with Messi 2.2 to be the Golden Boot winner and Argentina 5.0 to defend their World Cup crown.
But in a reminder that Messi is human after all (just), he also set a record for being the first player to miss two penalties at the same World Cup after his spot-kick was saved on Monday, his second miss of the tournament.
Belgium vs the World
It’s a minor miracle that Belgium are still in this World Cup. If they’d lost to New Zealand in their final Group match, they would have been out, and they certainly looked down and out when 2-0 down against Senegal with just 15 minutes left on the clock in their Last 32 game.
A Goal by Romelu Lukaku and two from skipper Youri Tielemans, including a winning penalty in the last minute of extra time, changed all that, so next up was the USA.
Not only did Belgium then have to deal with challenges on the field, but also off it.
In an unprecedented move at a World Cup, USA’s star man Folarin Balogun saw his ban suspended for a year because that well-known football ‘expert’, President Donald J Trump, ‘thought that wasn’t a foul’ when he was sent off in his previous game. So he phoned FIFA President Gianni Infantino, told him so, and the ban was miraculously put on hold with Balogun allowed to play.
Not content with that, Belgium then decided they needed more challenges, so manager Rudi Garcia decided to leave out superstar players Kevin de Bruyne and Jeremy Doku from his starting line-up against the USA.
In the end, it proved the right decision, as Belgium put in a superb display to win 4-1.
Next up, Spain, and Belgium are 5.5 to win in 90 minutes, 3.5 to qualify and 12.0 to make the final. After what’s happened in the last week and a half, you wouldn’t rule any of those out.
What to Look Out for This Week
As we head to the final stages of what has been a terrific World Cup so far, here are a couple of things to keep an eye on.
Morocco Flying the Flag for Africa as a Whole
This may be a ‘World’ Cup, but it certainly has a very European feel to it right now. After all, of the eight teams still in it, six are European: England, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, France, and Belgium. One is South American, the defending world champions Argentina. And the last one is African.
Morocco have been superb so far. They’ve scored ten and conceded just three while winning three and drawing two so far. Their 3-0 win over Canada in the last round was clinical and arguably the most comfortable last 16 round win of all.
And in a sense, they’re doing more than just representing themselves; they’re flying the flag for Africa as a whole. For Egypt, controversially knocked out in light of some questionable refereeing decisions against Argentina and for the likes of Senegal and DR Congo (and even Cape Verde), who all had chances to progress but didn’t.
France are next, and though it’s understandable Les Bleus are 1.57 favourites, this won’t be easy against a Morocco side who ‘won’ AFCON earlier this year and made the semis at the last World Cup. As per our preview, Morocco could well force extra time, so the draw at 3.9 and Morocco or draw on the Double Chance market at 2.38 are both of interest.
Are England and Norway Frenemies?
Norway and England are strongly connected when it comes to football.
For many Norwegian football fans, domestic football means the Premier League rather than their own Tippeligaen.
Star men like Martin Odegaard. Oscar Bobb, and of course, Erling Haaland, all play in the Premier League. In fact, Haaland was born in England, so actually qualifies to play for them as well as Norway.
Back in 1981, Norway beat England 2-1 as huge underdogs that almost cost the Three Lions a place at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. Then, in 1992 and 1993, the Scandinavians first drew 1-1 and then beat England 2-0 when they were in the same qualifying Group, results that DID deny England a place at the 1994 World Cup this time.
We’ve warned you about the dangers posed by Norway before when we had them at 1.91 against Brazil on the Double Chance market. We also pointed out that Norway are the only side in history to have played Brazil more than once and never lost - a run they extended to three games on Sunday.
Well, their recent record against England is strong, too. Across their last seven against them, they won two, drew three and lost two. Early bets that catch the eye when they meet in Miami on Saturday are Norway to qualify at 2.88, Norway on the Double Chance market at 1.91 and Haaland to score at 2.1.
