European champions Spain are on a World Cup collision course with Kylian Mbappe’s France if they can beat Belgium in a quarter-final on Friday at the spectacular SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Belgians face the daunting task of breaking through a Spanish defence that has yet to concede a goal in the tournament. If Spain win, they will head to Texas next Tuesday for a mouth-watering semi-final against France that many observers are already describing as the final before the final.
First though, Spain need to find goals against a Belgium team who started the World Cup slowly but caught fire as the tournament has gone on.
The 4-1 demolition of the USA in the last round showed just how far the team coached by Rudi Garcia have come in just a few weeks.
Spain meanwhile have not displayed the attacking flair of France but they are playing the possession-based football that carried them to the country’s only World Cup triumph, in South Africa in 2010.
Lamine Yamal of Barcelona, who turns 19 next week, is Spain’s standout attacker but he arrived in the United States after suffering a late-season injury and has seemed a peripheral figure at times, scoring just once in five games. Yamal, widely tipped to inherit the mantle of the world’s greatest player from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, could be due a goal.
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente acknowledged his star man has yet to hit his peak.
“We know that the best version of him, the attacking Lamine, is something that we haven’t quite seen yet in this World Cup. Not to the level that we’re used to,” he said.
In Yamal’s absence, Mikel Oyarzabal has filled the void, scoring four times, including twice in the 3-0 defeat of Austria in the last 32 at SoFi. Spain have conceded just six shots on target in their five matches so far.
Belgium looked leaden and their stars ageing when they opened their group-stage account. But they showed their mettle in an exciting defeat of Senegal in the last 32, when Youri Tielemans dragged his team back from 2-0 down to a 3-2 victory after the introduction of Romelu Lukaku as an impact substitute.
The Belgians then demolished the United States in the last 16, in a game overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s intervention to get US striker Folarin Balogun’s red card from the previous round cancelled. That move fired up the Belgians, who gently mocked Trump with an on-field imitation of the president’s YMCA dance.
The World Cup is likely the last hurrah for the remainder of Belgium’s so-called Golden Generation, including Lukaku, former Premier League player of the year Kevin De Bruyne and towering goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid. Belgium are comfortable with their status of underdogs.
Coach Garcia said: “Everyone is already talking about us going home. But we think that we can do it. We think we can pull it off, and we’re going to do everything we can to get to the semis.”
England’s Defensive Headaches
England’s bid to return to the semi-finals after a last-eight exit four years ago hit another bump as centre-half Marc Guehi is now a doubt for Saturday’s meeting with Norway with a hamstring strain. The Manchester City defender will be assessed on Friday, but with Jarell Quansah suspended for the quarter-final clash in Miami after being sent off against Mexico in the previous round, coach Thomas Tuchel finds himself with unwanted defensive headaches as he plots how to stop Erling Haaland.
France March On
On Thursday, France turned what was expected to be a tight quarter-final with Morocco into a clinical 2-0 win in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Mbappe scored his eighth goal of this World Cup and 20th overall before Ousmane Dembele completed the job.
The France captain was substituted and applied an ice pack to his foot, but was quick to reassure France fans that it was nothing serious.
AFP
