After 8 tremendous and breathtaking football contests in the span of 4 days, the 2018 FIFA World Cup will enter its 3rd stage, the Quarter Final matches, on Friday. As exciting as any other round of 16 World Cup stage, this round was full of surprises and world class performances. Losses to Uruguay and France respectively ended the World Cup campaigns of crowd favourites Portugal and Argentina, and brought an end to the dreams of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. On the other hand, Russia produced a bigger upset as they upstaged title favourites Spain to book their maiden quarter final birth.
In what promises to be a slobber knocker round of world class football, the 8 best teams will fight to make it to the semi finals. While the final result will only depend on the performances of the teams in their matches, here are the predictions for every quarter final match of 2018 World Cup, based on the team performances so far.
#France vs. Uruguay
This is the first of the two matches in which two super giants of World Football will square off with each other, and the only one to feature two former World Cup holders in this tournament. While France easily upstaged Argentina in their round of 16 match, Uruguay had their hands full in their 2-1 win over Portugal.
Even though both teams have had better tournament performances in the past, their performances in the past few matches have made them favourites for the title. France’s attack in the round of 16 match earned a lot of praise from the fans and the critics. Uruguay, on the other hand, did a splendid job of halting Portugal’s tremendous attack and were equally impressive on the attack, albeit not on the level of France.
Uruguay have done a splendid job so far in the tournament, but they have too play even better to upstage France. It will be a closely fought contest, but in the end, France will get the upper hand and move forward to the Penultimate stage.
Prediction: France to advance to the semi finals
#Russia vs. Croatia
Before the start of the tournament, no one could have given either Croatia or Russia a chance to make it beyond the round of 16 stage, however, not only have these two made it to the quarter finals, one of them will make it to their second World Cup semi final after they face each other in this match of the underdogs. Russia shocked the whole football fraternity by knocking out Spain, one of the front-runners in the race for the title, after penalty shoot outs in one of the most astounding contests in this World Cup.
Already playing their best game, Croatia too had to fend off a penalty shoot out scare by Denmark, after both teams scored a goal in the first 5 minutes, to keep their campaign alive. Taking full advantage of the home conditions, Russia have had a fairy tale run so far, but considering the way the Croatian team has played on the field so far, it seems that Russia’s fairy tale run could now come to an end in the quarter finals.
Croatia will definitely walk in as favourite in a contest that promises to go down the line, but don’t be shocked if Russia again cause a big upset.
Prediction: Croatia to edge past the Russian team
#Brazil vs. Belgium
From the match of the underdogs to another match of the big dogs, this fight between Brazil and Belgium is a match that is generating the highest buzz among all the matches in this stage. This, along with the France versus Uruguay showdown, is a face-off between two front-runners in the title race.
Brazil have done a tremendous job so far with their all-round performance on the field. Successfully dodging the challenge from Mexico, Brazil entered their 7th consecutive and record 16th World Cup quarter finals. Their opponents Belgium have had the best attack in this edition of the tournament, as evidenced by their stunning last minute goal to win the match against Japan after initially trailing by two goals after 60 minutes.
Predictions: Belgium to win over Brazil
#Sweden vs England
It is always great to see two dark horses successfully make it this far in a major tournament. While both England and Sweden have made it to the semi final of World Cup and England have even tasted success in 1966, none of them were considered serious contenders of the title this time out, and this is what makes this clash an interesting affair.
Sweden successfully upstaged a determined Switzerland by 1-0 in the round of 16 to make it to the quarter finals. England, however, had their hands full, as they were taken to a penalty shoot out by a James Rodriguez-less Columbian side. Even then, England have emerged as a rejuvenated unit led by a phenomenal skipper in Harry Kane.