Football Daily | Bring on the World Cup fireworks as quarter-finals kick off

. UK edition

Morocco fans let off fireworks on Boston Common
Oh it’s on. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

In today’s Football Daily: A lip-smacking last eight lineup to tuck into

SUPER 8

So here we stand. The quarter-finals of this unique and expanded Geopolitics World Cup have arrived! A whopping 96 games have been played and 40 teams have now received their marching orders. The Germans, the Dutch and the Brazilians are gone. And despite the absence of such heavyweights, it’s still a lip-smacking last eight lineup to tuck into. France v Morocco, Spain against Belgium, Norway tackling England and Lionel Messi Argentina against the Swiss. Yes, it has taken much longer to reach the quarter-final stage than in any of its predecessors – the 1934 World Cup was a straight 16-team knockout with just 17 games taking place over two weeks – but the business end of the tournament is unchanged and untarnished. It captures the imagination because the jeopardy ratchets up a few notches and stomachs begin to churn. If you’re based in Europe you may have suffered some sleep deprivation to get here, meaning you have truly earned the opportunity to drink in the final stages. Allow Football Daily to run through the quarter-finals, picking out the narratives and individuals that will inevitably dominate the coverage.

France v Morocco is a rerun of the 2022 semi-final, where the Atlas Lions’ brave run came to an abrupt halt. Are they a better side four years on? Well, they are Afcon champions* now and steamrollered Canada 3-0 in the last 16, a clinical display that triggered Jesse Marsch to protest his team “totally controlled the match”. Morocco also came through the last 32 thanks to some ropey Dutch penalties, so we predict France may have too much. Kylian Mbappé is doing his World Cup thing and Kylian Mbappé doing his World Cup thing is quite hard to stop. A footnote: expect plenty of handwringing should the Argentinian officials give some decisions against France, even if Didier Deschamps is pretty unfazed. “We have to deal with it,” he shrugged. “I trust the referees. Our opponent is Morocco, not the referee.”

A few weeks ago, Spain v Belgium would have been pretty easy to call. Spain remain ruthless tournament specialists under Luis de la Fuente and few expected much from the post-golden generation Belgians. But that was before. Before Spain were held by Cape Verde and Donald Trump decided the availability of former Middlesbrough loanee Folarin Balogun was a top political priority, transforming Belgium into inspired neutrals’ favourites as they thumped Trump’s boys and marched into the quarters. Spain to progress? Probably, but it may not be straightforward.

Then there is Norway v England and a game destined to be described as a battle between two star strikers. Some of the tabloids may even cut out the middle man and just call it Erling Haaland v Harry Kane. It’s a very palatable narrative for viewers familiar with the goal-hungry go-getters. The only problem with that framing is that it ignores the fact both teams have shown themselves to be hugely cohesive collectives so far. You don’t beat Brazil or overcome the Azteca with one player. England should have enough, you would think, courtesy of the slightly stronger supporting cast. That Jude Bellingham is quite good.

Finally, it’s Argentina v Switzerland and Messi’s march towards the trophy that has eluded him for his whole career: the Golden Boot. The Swiss may be arguably the least glamorous side left in the draw, which would make their toppling of the holders all the more impressive, if it happens. Whisper it but, Messi apart, La Albiceleste have not been all that convincing, squeezing past Cape Verde and Egypt to get here. Let the fun commence!

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE

Here we go again. Join Scott Murray from 9pm BST (4pm EDT) for hot minute-by-minute coverage of France 2-1 Morocco.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I forgot the question” – Brahim Díaz gets derailed from the mundanity of his pre-match media duties for Morocco … after a minor scrap seemingly broke out between two hacks at the back of the room. The midfielder was in full, autopilot flow, giving perfectly serviceably copy on important matters pertaining to mentality, what his side are capable of blah blah blah, only for cries of: “But why did you hit me? Why did you hit me? You can’t hit me” to liven things up immeasurably. Perplexed onlookers and suits intervened, allowing the real show to continue. But Díaz nervously giggled and had to admit that he’d lost his train of thought. Gah. But everyone laughed so it was aaaaaaaaaaaallright.

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FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

Reading your Memory Lane with the quote from the great Roberto Baggio (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition) reminded me of my own World Cup final day on 17 July 1994. Edinburgh. An impromptu kickabout early afternoon before watching the game in the pub. A clash of knees while shepherding the ball out of play. Ouch. That hurt. Got up. Still sore. But can’t be too bad if I can still stand up. Stamp the ground a couple of times, sort the pain out. Right. Game on. Next ball went by me on my right. Turned to chase it, next thing am on the ground staring at the sky. What happened there? Standing up this time was shaky. Hobble off the pitch. Knee starting to swell worryingly. Decided to walk to the A&E at the hospital on the other side of the Meadows. Ended up watching in a hospital ward. Praying for it not to end as the next morning they would be operating. Still can’t believe Baggio missed. Thanks for bringing all that back. PS: despite painting an arrow on my afflicted leg, no surgery was required, I probably didn’t need to insist on so much morphine in anticipation of the procedure. Apparently, I was too happy to be allowed home unaccompanied after they told me a cast on the split patella for six weeks would sort it out. They were correct” – Hamish Brown.

Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. Can I be one of 1,057 pedants to congratulate Sir Chris Hoy on his until-yesterday unknown second career as a Premier League referee? A black and white jersey that screams ‘when you’ve got the keirin at 10am and West Brom v Stoke at 3pm’, perhaps?” – Joel Atkin (and 1,056 others).

When discussing great goals that never were (yesterday’s Football Daily), my mind drifts eventually to Klaus Fischer, whose glorious overhead kick, after an outside-of-the-boot assist by Rainer Bonhof, was busybodied out of existence by Scottish referee John Gordon, on the pretext that the German’s foot was too close to Soviet defender Sergei Prigoda’s head. Given that it was a friendly, and West Germany won anyway, it wasn’t much of sporting atrocity, but a crime against aesthetics” – Kári Tulinius.

If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day goes to … Hamish Brown. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.