Though Qatar 2022 has proven to be filled with upsets, the round of 16 pretty much went how everyone expected. The only surprise was Morocco knocking out Spain the way they did and Portugal putting 6 past Switzerland.
Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Netherlands, England, France, Croatia and Brazil have all made it through to the quarter finals of this year’s World Cup competition.
Brazil, England and Portugal had resounding wins over South Korea, Senegal and Switzerland respectively. Croatia and Morocco had to do it the hard long way on penalties while Netherlands yielded possession to USA and proved their clinical superiority.
Argentina will take on Netherlands tomorrow at 19:00. The Dutch have a very good forward line who have proven they’re not goal shy. They have also proven that they are very comfortable yielding possession to the opposition and hitting them on the break like we saw in their match against the USA.
Argentina are a possession based nation and love to have all of the ball. We’ve seen that in all their games so far but one thing I haven’t seen is the creation of lots of chances and that cutting edge.
Netherlands on the other hand have that cutting edge. Aside their game against the US I haven’t watched other so I don’t want to say anything out of place. But what I’ve heard and read is that Van Gaal is flexible. I got to see them “pack the bus” against the US but still managed to win 3-1.
I’ve watched Argentina a lot and it sometimes just feels like they pass the ball around too much. They weren’t very great against Poland and I think we can all agree that Poland were the weakest team to make it out of the group stages right?😁
Against Mexico they weren’t at their best in the first half but a much better performance in the second half helped their course. But they’ve been lucky that their talisman Messi has still got the juice and is helping the team so much.
Another bright spark in their team has been Enzo Fernandez who has got a couple of goals to his name I think 🤔. Lautaro Martinez hasn’t been exceptional up front which has seen him lose his spot to Julian Alvarez who’s a player I admire watching a lot. I feel if not because Haaland is Haaland he’d be more appreciated.
I expect this game to be tight and not an easy win for Argentina. Argentina were tipped off as the favorites but they’ve failed to blow off any team so far and I don’t think they’ll start with the Dutch. Could this be the end of their World Cup campaign?
I’m going to predict a Dutch win. That’s what my gut keeps telling me.
I think everyone expects Brazil to emerge victorious in this game. Except Croatians of course but then I’m pretty sure everyone given a million dollar to bet on this game will go for Brazil.
Unlike the others Brazil have been exceptional bar the game against Cameroon where they lost. Granted, they played with a different 11 but we still expected them to win.
Brazil showed South Korea who’s boss right from kick off and made sure to end their hopes there and then.
Croatia are a solid team but I don’t think they have enough to keep the Samba boys at bay. Neymar is back from injury and even without him, they have a lot of great options to go with.
I think Brazil will emerge as victors in this fixture.
I’d love to know what you guys think. Please leave your comments.
Thank you.
