Football World Championship 2026 – Quarter-Finals Preview & Tips

Our feature columnist, John Newsome, previews the Quarter-finals of the Football World Championship 2026 with his unique and insightful commentary.

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Be sure to check out John’s book, entitled “Three Days At Anfield“, a riotous and heartfelt tribute to Barnsley FC that blends football nostalgia, fan memoir, and a love letter to the beautiful game. Available on Amazon now.

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World Cup Quarter-Finals

July 09th

FRANCE (3) v MOROCCO (7)

21.00 in England

Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Boston USA

So, the FIFA World Rankings are on the mark, with the 3rd-ranked team, France, up against the 7th-ranked country, Morocco, in the last 8 (Quarter-Finals).

Added to those, Argentina at number 1, Spain at number 3 and England at number 4 make up 5 of the 8, with Belgium (9), Switzerland (29) and Norway (31) being outside of the Top 8 countries ranked by FIFA.

France gained a narrow victory over Paraguay in Philadelphia on Saturday, with Kylian Mbappe converting a penalty in the 70th minute, to give the French the win from a 1-0 scoreline.

In truth, it could have been a wider score but the Paraguayan Goalkeeper Orlando Gill made several world-class saves.

It was ironic that the game took place in Philadelphia, the home of Rocky Balboa, as at times the Paraguayans resembled the legend in throwing a few punches at the French team.

France move on to the Quarter-Finals against Morocco in Boston on Thursday.

Morocco gained an easy victory over Canada in Houston on Saturday.

The Canadians definitely had a problem with the Moroccans, who, after a goalless 1st-half, scored 3 to run out winners.

Azzedine Ounahi scored twice in the 50th and 82nd minutes, before Soufiane Rahimi rounded off the goals in the 98th minute, to give Morocco the win from a 3-0 scoreline.

Canada were lucky to play in their home country for the first 3 games and were poor against the South Africans, eventually getting a narrow win to progress to the last-16 but in truth, were never going to get any further by beating a very good Morocco team, despite putting in a decent shift.

Betfred offer France at slight Odds On 5/6, the Draw at 11/4 and 16/5 for Morocco to progress to the Semi-Finals.

France To Win 3-1- Get 12/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!

July 10th

SPAIN (2) v BELGIUM (9)

20.00 in England

SoFi Stadium, Inglewood California USA

Spain gained a narrow victory over Portugal in a hard-fought encounter with their neighbours.

With the game goalless at the 90-minute mark, it did appear that there would be an extra 30, however, Mikel Merino scored the solitary winning goal in the 91st minute to send Spain through to the Quarter-Finals and knock out Portugal.

Cristiano Ronaldo was distraught after the match and it’s more than likely that will be that for the legend.

That said, the 2030 World Cup is in Portugal (along with Morocco and Spain) so don’t be surprised if CR7 makes an appearance.

It’s also comprehensible that Cristiano could be the Portuguese Manager.

It’s felt that justice was done following Belgium’s victory over the USA on Monday Night after a bizarre change of rules from the FIFA President (and the United States President) which allowed Florarin Balogun to play, even though the lad had been sent off in the previous game and should have had a one-game suspension.

Belgium were simply too good for the USA and gained a victory from a 4-1 scoreline to set up this Quarter-Final against the Spanish.

Charles De Ketelaere scored the first 2 goals either side of a Max Tillman equaliser to give the Belgians a lead at the break.

Hans Vanaken scored a 3rd just before the hour mark, with Romelu Lukaku adding a 4th in the 93rd minute.

The Belgian Manager Rudi Garcia did drop Kevin De Bruyne from the starting lineup and although KDB is a great player, the team looked better in the middle without the ex-Man City player.

This should be another great game between 2 European teams.

Betfred offer Spain at Odds On 8/13, the Draw at 3/1 and 9/2 for Belgium to progress to the Semi-Finals.

Spain To Win 3-1- Get 12/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!

July 11th

NORWAY (31) v ENGLAND (4)

22.00 in England

Hard Rock Stadium, Miami USA

Norway shocked most people (apart from the Norwegians) and got a victory over Brazil to progress to this mouthwatering Quarter-Final against England.

After conceding a penalty in the 14th minute, it was thought Brazil would take the lead, however, the Newcastle Midfielder Bruno Guimaraes fluffed his lines and hit a tame shot which the Norwegian Goalkeeper Orjan Nyland easily saved to keep the score level at the break.

It was then that man Erling Haarland’s time to shine, with the Big Viking scoring twice in the 79th and 90th minutes to take the game away from Brazil.

Norway conceded a 2nd penalty in the 99th minute which the Brazil legend Neymar coolly converted to halve the deficit, however, the referee blew the whistle for full-time soon after and that was that.

Norway were through and Brazil were on their way home.

The strange thing about this game is, despite Norway knocking out Brazil, England would probably prefer to face the Norwegians instead of the Brazilians, as Brazil usually raise their game against England, with England only winning once against Brazil in the last 12 meetings, 6 Draws and 5 Losses from the other 11, stretching back to 1992.

England gained, what could be considered, one of their best-ever victories at a World Cup against Mexico, since probably the Quarter-Final against Cameroon at Italia’90.

In a hard-fought game in the Azteca Stadium, which had been delayed for an hour due to the weather, 2 goals from Jude Bellingham, followed by a Mexican strike, gave England a narrow lead at the break.

The unfortunate Jarrell Quansah, who was back in at Right Back was shown a straight Red Card in the 54th minute for a challenge deemed to be dangerous by the dreaded VAR.

The on-field referee Alireza Faghani, who was 5 yards away from the incident, didn’t even blow for a foul but then showed the Red Card after being advised to look at the monitor.

Despite being a man down, England pressed forward and gained a penalty soon after the sending off, which was dispatched by the legend that is Harry Kane to re-establish a 2-goal lead.

The dreaded VAR then got busy again and got Alireza Faghani to award Mexico a penalty in the 69th minute, which Raul Jimenez converted to make it 3-2 in favour of England.

It was then backs against the wall for the English Defenders, who stood resolute and saw the game out to get a famous victory over one of the hosts.

The whole team were magnificent but a special mention for Jude Bellingham who was like a young Paul Gascoigne from Italia’90, not only scoring the goals but putting in a great defensive display.

Harry Kane was once again superb as were John Stones and Dan Burn who came on as substitutes after Jarrell’s dismissal.

The Barnsley Stone will probably start at Centre Back against Norway, with Ezri Konsa moving to Right Back.

There is a little concern for several players, such as Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, Marc Guehi and Nico O’Reilly, who all have a Yellow Card on their records and will miss the Semi-Final (providing England are successful) if any pick up another Yellow against the Norwegians.

Declan had picked up a Yellow Card in the Group game against Ghana, however, the cards were wiped off each player’s record at the end of the Group stage.

Antonio Nusa is the only Norwegian player who has a Yellow Card and would miss the Semi-Final if Norway progress.

The current leading scorers-

Lionel Messi 8

Kylian Mbappe 7
Erling Haaland 7

Harry Kane 6

Ousmane Dembele 4
Jude Bellingham 4
Mikel Oyarzabal 4

Julian Quinones, Ismaila Sarr and Vinicius Junior all have 4 goals too but won’t be able to add to those as all (Mexico, Senegal and Brazil) are on their way home.

Thomas Tuchel will probably have a plan in place (one hopes so) to stop Erling Haaland from scoring, however, that is easier said than done, as the Norwegian/Leeds lad can be non-existent for a long period but then pop up from nowhere and score a goal or two.

As mentioned, Erling has 7 goals from the 12 Norway have scored and didn’t play in the game against France (which must have irked the Viking) so could potentially, be at the top of the goal-scoring charts.

Erling Haaland v Harry Kane!

This is also another game between 2 European teams, so out of the 8 Quarter-Finalists, 6 teams are from Europe, 1 is from North Africa and 1 is from South America.

The pathway now for all teams is clear but John Newsome has the following prediction-

Semi-Finals-

France v Spain
England v Argentina

Final

France v England

Winners-

England

‘It’s coming home!’

Betfred offer Norway at 3/1, the Draw at 11/4 and slight Odds On 5/6 for England to progress to the Semi-Finals.

England To Win 3-1- Get 14/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!

July 12th

ARGENTINA (1) v SWITZERLAND (19)

02.00 in England

Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City USA

What a game the football fraternity witnessed between Argentina and Egypt.

Egypt surprised everyone and scored the 1st in the 15th minute, with Yasser Ibrahim getting the goal.

Argentina were then awarded a penalty 5 minutes later, giving Lionel Messi the chance to level the score.

Unfortunately for the Argentinian faithful, Lionel had his tame shot saved by the Egyptian Goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir, who made a string of great saves throughout the 1st-half.

That was Lionel’s 2nd penalty miss at this tournament.

Mostafa Zico then scored a 2nd for Egypt in the 67th minute and with 11 minutes remaining it did look like the Egyptians were going through.

Not so, the Tottenham Defender Cristian Romero headed a goal for Argentina in the 79th minute, to halve the deficit.

Was a comeback on the cards?

It certainly was, the main man Lionel Messi made up for his missed penalty by scoring a brilliant 2nd for Argentina in the 83rd minute.

It was then left to the Chelsea (at the moment) Midfielder Enzo Fernandez to score the eventual winner in the 92nd minute to send the World Champions through to the Quarter-Finals from a victory by a 3-2 scoreline.

That’s the stuff that Champions are made of.

It was tough on the Egyptians who played well in periods and could argue, that a few decisions went against them.

There was an Egyptian goal scored at 1-0, which was disallowed by the dreaded VAR due to a foul that occurred 100 yards away, with the referee playing on.

Once the goal went in, the VAR told the on-field referee Francois Letexier that there was a foul and he should look at the monitor.

As with most incidents like this, there is usually a change in events, which meant the goal was ruled out.

It was a foul but Francois should have blown for it earlier, not leave it to the VAR to re-referee the game.

The win for Argentina sets up this game against another European team Switzerland for a place in the Semi-Final.

As mentioned earlier, the current leading scorers are as follows-

Lionel Messi 8

Kylian Mbappe 7
Erling Haaland 7

Harry Kane 6

Ousmane Dembele 4
Jude Bellingham 4
Mikel Oyarzabal 4

The Colombia v Switzerland game wasn’t the best and had penalties all over it from the first 10 minutes.

That’s eventually what happened after 120 minutes of neither team scoring with the game finishing in a draw by a 0-0 score.

After a few disastrous spot kicks from a number of players, Switzerland eventually prevailed and went through to the Quarter-Finals following the penalty shootout win, sending the Colombians home in the process.

Argentina won’t be too worried about facing the Chocolate Boys after the two previous harder fixtures against Cape Verde and Egypt.

Betfred offer Argentina at Odds On 8/11, the Draw at 5/2 and 9/2 for Switzerland to progress to the Semi-Finals.

Argentina To Win 3-1- Get 16/1 on Betfred & Claim your new account welcome offer!