[ad_1]
This article was published on Thursday in the World Cup news bulletin. Register to receive intelligent analysis, opinions, guides and more every game day until the final on July 15th.
This is the longest gap between games since the start of the World Cup. I'm fine, really, and hope you are too. The sun was a shock at the beginning but I adjusted after a few hours
I'm back inside now and ready for an extensible race that promises to be a good thing. be thrilling from the first game
Of the remaining eight teams, four won the World Cup before . But only two have won in my life, and I am 51 years old. There have been only three top champions in the last 40 years.
The top four teams are all stuck on one side of the rack. They play Friday in what, on paper, looks like the best day of the tournament matches up to now. The games will feature some of the best attacking players on the planet – allowing injury – and the best defense of the tournament.
Here we go.
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
[ Full bracket and schedule for the rest of the World Cup]
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. (Hassan Ammar / Associated Press)
The problem is the health of Uruguay, especially the injury status of the world-class 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 Frenchman Ngolo Kante, on the right, rejects Lionel Messi. (Thanassis Stavrakis / Associated Press)
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
[ Everyone is talking about Neymar (in addition to Neymar)]
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.
[ The Brazil World Cup in 2018 looks a lot like Germany in 2014]
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
FOR THE GOODBYES BITTERSWEET [19659051] Three-quarters of teams arriving in Russia are eliminated from the tournament. They leave behind pride and disappointment, confusion and frustration.
Now is the time to say goodbye – some forever, others for another four years.
So ciao. .
To the managers. .
From a team to his remarkable fans. .
To the senior retirees. .
For longtime fans of a favorite longtime fans. .
And from one continent to one team, one of the most popular of the tournament. . Read more about the World Cup:
Wimbledon Men's Final and World Cup Final Collide
The World Cup Final will include one of these teams: England, Croatia, Sweden, Russia.
Opinion: The Real Losers of the World Cup: The Russian People
England knows how to adjust her expectations in World Cup. But winning was not part of the plan.
[ad_2]
Source link
