World Cup quarterfinals feature soccer powerhouses

Eight teams are left in the World Cup, and the quarterfinals feature the top four countries in FIFA’s pre-tournament men’s world rankings plus two others in the top 10.

France looks like a juggernaut and is the betting favorite at just under 2-1, followed by Spain and defending champion Argentina at 7-2, and England at 9-2. Norway is 14-1, while Belgium, Switzerland and Morocco are 28-1.

• France vs. Morocco: France dominated in group play by outscoring opponents 10-2, an impressive showing even considering Norway rested Erling Haaland and almost all its starters when the two teams played, and rolled over Sweden 3-0 at the beginning of the knockout stage. Kylian Mbappe scored his 19th career World Cup goal in a hard-fought, 1-0 victory against Paraguay to reach the quarterfinals.

Four years removed from reaching the semifinals, Morocco drew with Brazil in its opener, knocked out the Netherlands on penalty kicks and bounced back from a rough start to beat co-host Canada to reach the quarterfinals. France is favored to advance.

“I do not want to talk about euphoria getting to us,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “And I do pay a lot of respect to this Moroccan team. We know what we are expecting.”

The match is Thursday at 4 p.m. in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

• Spain vs. Belgium: A surprising draw against Cape Verde early only seemingly prepared Spain for handling tight games. It eliminated Uruguay 1-0, and after cruising past Austria 3-0 in the round of 32 got past Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal thanks to Mikel Merino’s goal in stoppage time. No team has scored on Spain in the tournament.

Belgium rallied from 2-0 down with five minutes left in regulation time to beat Senegal, then blew out the U.S. in Seattle after FIFA let Folarin Balogun play despite his automatic red-card suspension. Spain is favored.

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The teams will meet Friday at 3 p.m. in Inglewood, California. 

• Norway vs. England: The underdog story of the tournament is Norway, with Haaland leading the way and fans and players doing the Viking Row all over the U.S. as giant crowds celebrate back home. Haaland scored his sixth and seventh goals to upset five-time champion Brazil and get the Scandinavian country into the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time.

England endured a raucous crowd at the Azteca Stadium to beat Mexico in a round-of-16 thriller but lost veteran midfielder Jordan Henderson to a wrist injury from a postgame celebration. England is a slight favorite.

They play Saturday at 5 p.m. in Miami Gardens, Florida.

• Argentina vs. Switzerland: Lionel Messi leads all players with eight goals this year and set the World Cup record at 21 — and counting — in his illustrious career. Messi’s latest trick was scoring to complete a rally from down 2-0 with 11 minutes left in regulation against Egypt in an instant classic Tuesday that Argentina won 3-2.

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Switzerland has scored only nine goals through five games, relying on defensive style to get through. It took penalty kicks to defeat Colombia in the round of 16 after neither team scored in regulation or extra time. The Swiss are in the quarterfinals for the first time since hosting the tournament in 1954. Argentina is favored.

The match is Saturday at p.m. in Kansas City, Missouri.

• What’s next: The France-Morocco and Spain-Belgium winners meet in the first semifinal match on July 14, at 3 p.m. in Arlington, Texas. The Norway-England and Argentina-Switzerland winners play in the other semifinal  on July 15 in Atlanta, also at 3 p.m.

The final is at the same time on July 19, in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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