And then there were four! The World Cup is down to four
teams and you would’ve done very well to have guessed these four teams as the
final four in the tournament. All four teams have a common theme, although they
have individual stars, they’ve relied more on teamwork than individual
brilliance for most of the past month to get this far. In fact, this World Cup
has shown how football truly is a team sport.
In this article, I preview the semi-finals and predict what I
think will happen. My prediction game hasn’t been strong so far, although I did
get three out of four results correct in the Quarter Final, with Brazil the
only team that broke my perfect streak. So feel free to pay no heed to them at
all!
Semi Final 1: France
vs Belgium
France were in control for most of their Quarter Final and
always looked like winning the game. Uruguay never quite got going, visibly missing
the injured Cavani, and seemed to get deflated once the second French goal went
in. Belgium pulled off perhaps the only ‘upset’ of the Quarter Final, riding
their luck to some extent in the early exchanges, but then putting on a perfect
tactical and attacking display to brush off Brazil’s challenge. This semi-final
promises to be an all-out attacking affair, or so it so seems from past
displays, and one hopes it lives up to that reputation. Both teams set up with an
attacking intent for most of their matches, and have forward lines to envy. On
the French side is the trio of Griezman, Giroud and Mbappe, who are a mixture
of Poacher, Target Man and a forward who loves to run at the defense. On the
Belgian side is another fearsome trio, that of Lukaku, Eden Hazard and De
Bruyne, who were in scintillating form against Brazil. France have looked more
stable defensively, but Belgium have truckloads of experience on their side.
The presence of Kompany throughout the tournament has been a huge plus for
them. However, one needs to keep an eye out for how they handle the quickness
of the French forward line, especially Mbappe. Matuidi will be back for the
French after being suspended for the Quarter Final and should find his way back
into the starting line-up. The midfield pairing of Witsel and Fellaini were the
perfect destroyers for Belgium in the last game, but one wonders whether both
will retain their place for this game, given the difference in setup of their
opponents. This game looks like it’ll be a battle of attack versus defense at
both ends, with the midfield likely to take a back-seat. Coming to my
prediction, it is extremely difficult for me to differentiate between the two
teams. My hunch is that Belgium will just sneak through a high scoring affair,
with France’s lack of experience proving their downfall in such a high stakes
encounter.
Prediction: France
2 – 3 Belgium
Semi Final 2: Croatia
vs England
Not many would’ve picked these two nations to contest the
second semi-final. Both teams have proved their doubters wrong and had an
excellent tournament so far. Croatia haven’t quite reached their level when
they beat Argentina in the succeeding matches, needing penalties in both their
Knockout games to progress. However, the team spirit and the brilliance of
Modric have got them this far and they’ve absolutely deserved it. England have
had an easier progress to this stage, but a team can only beat what’s in front
of them, and the English have done so with confidence, even laying to rest
their penalty shootout voodoo in the Round of 16. They came past Sweden with a
comfortable two goal victory in the Quarter Final, but a lot of the credit has
to go to their goalkeeper Pickford, who kept his team’s clean sheet intact with
spectacular saves on more than one occasion. Harry Kane looks likely to win the
Golden Boot now and he will be extra motivated to add to his six goals at the
World Cup. He will be up against the Croatian central defensive pairing of
Lovren and Vida and that matchup could have a huge impact on the outcome of
this game. The English defense has not really been tested by a good attacking unit
so far, but handling the likes of Mandzukic, Rebic, Perisic, Kramaric, Modric
and Rakitic will be a challenge. If the English are able to control the
midfield, with Henderson likely to be key in this aspect, they should get the
upper hand in this match. However, the English defenders who are likely to
start this game, with the exception of Maguire, have been shaky before, not
necessarily in this tournament, and with their first real challenge coming this
deep into the tournament, could prove to be the weak link. For this reason in
particular, I will pick this Croatian team to go one better than their heroes
of 1998 and win this game.
Prediction: Croatia
2 – 1 England
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