Balanced World Cup breakout will pay off with two fabulous Friday quarterfinal matches

FRIDAY CALENDAR

All Time Eastern

Quarter-Finals: France vs. France Uruguay

10 hours | Nizhny Novgorod | FS1, Telemundo

Quarter-finals: Brazil vs. Belgium

14:00 | Kazan | FS1, Telemundo

OVERVIEW: FRANCE vs URUGUAY

Uruguay was solid from the start, and the French are on the rise. Both are former champions – France much more recently – and have both balance, depth and an alchemical mix of young and old.

Uruguay has conceded only one goal in four games. He has the best remaining couple in the tournament – the teammates of Atletico Madrid Diego Godin and José María Giménez – who can both smother and score

[How Uruguay became the World Cup’s little country that could]

Diego Godin of Uruguay, left, is one of the best in the world on the field. (Hbadan Ammar / Associated Press)

The problem is the health of Uruguay, especially the injury status of the world-clbad strike partnership of Edinson Cavani (who plays with and against many French players in the club Luis Suárez, who will face his teammate of FC Barcelona, ​​Samuel Umtiti, a French center back

After scoring twice against Portugal, Cavani left the field and has had to be replaced at the end of the game Suarez fired out of practice this week It is unclear whether either will play, but Suarez is most likely

This Uruguayan team turned out to be much more than the star strikers and the solid defense . Óscar Tabárez remake manager Team after a bad start qualifying, which resulted in more young midfielders in an attack

Juventus Rodrigo Bentancur is 21 years old and is already midfielder for La Celeste. Lucas Torreira is 22 years old, played last season for Sampdoria in Italy and could be on his way to Arsenal. He tore the Portuguese midfielder, winning tackles and creating opportunities.

This competition in the middle of the pack should be among the best of the tournament (with the match Belgium-Brazil a few hours later). Bentancur will face Frenchman Paul Pogba both to a yellow card from a suspension of a match (which would be for the semi-finals if Friday). if sometimes breathtaking talent helped stretch Argentine midfielder in the previous game, allowing the French space before using their formidable speed.

But there is Golo Nante, diminutive and omnipresent, which is the key to the French attack. The extraordinary amount of land that it covers allows Pogba and others to progress without fear of being caught too far in defense. Kanté is there – he is always there, where he is.

The Uruguayan defense will have to take into account the speed of Kylian Mbappé and that of Antoine Griezmann who can also spend most of his defenses. If the goals come, the celebrations will follow. And in the national cradle of the mime, they will be choreographed

Manager Didier Deschamps winner of the World Cup in 1998, also uses Olivier Giroud slow foot but huge head , as a target in the middle, in case the defense decides to line up against an otherwise fast front line

This could be an interesting and open competition and goals at both ends.

BRAZIL against BELGIUM

There will not be another match in this tournament with more talent on the field

Philippe Coutinho of Brazil and Eden Hazard Belgium are two of the top five offensive midfielders in the field. planet. The Dutchman Kevin De Bruyne is also part of this list

And then there are Neymar and Romelu Lukaku prominently cut off from very different fabrics.

One is a recent finalist "best player in the world" which unfortunately unfortunately seems to be made of sugar

Neymar's Brazil sambas after the defense of Mexico. (Sergei Grits / Associated Press)

Lukaku is a giant competing for the golden boot of the tournament who can score on the ground with speed, in the air with his head and by far with a lethal left foot .

At age 33, the center back of Brazil Thiago Silva has a difficult day because of the speed and spirit of the attack Belgian. It will be made much more difficult without Casemiro, the destructive midfielder who gives a more difficult backbone to a sometimes delicate Brazilian team. He came out for the accumulation of yellow card no surprise for anyone who watched him play for Real Madrid.

Brazil has an excellent safeguard, albeit less physical, Fernandinho . He is also 33 years old (and seven years older than Casemiro). But he knows how De Bruyne, in particular, plays: Both share the midfielder in Manchester City the Premier League champion.

Will all this talent cancel in the middle of the pack? Or will it be a goal-fest?

Who knows? But these two offensive powers are supported by excellent guardians: Thibaut Courtois and Alisson .

19659045] Romelu Lukaku Belgium: 4

Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal: 4

Edinson Cavani Uruguay: 3

Denis Cheryshev, Russia: 3

Diego Costa Spain: 3

Artem Dzyuba Russia: 3

Kylian Mbappe France: 3

Yerry Mina Colombia: 3