{"id":786410,"date":"2026-07-08T06:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T06:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786410\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T06:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T06:47:14","slug":"world-cup-quarterfinals-when-and-where-as-france-england-and-argentina-take-next-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786410\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup quarterfinals: When and where as France, England and Argentina take next step"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Cup has whittled 48 teams down to just eight, with the quarterfinals upon us and the finish line in sight.<\/p>\n

With the business end upon us, these are games not to be missed. Find out the who, where and when and get up to speed on what to expect from these monumental matches.<\/p>\n

Check out the full World Cup schedule here<\/a> in Australian timesABC Sport podcast: Check out the latest episode here<\/a>France vs MoroccoFriday, July 10, 6am AEST (5:30am ACST, 4am AWST) @ Boston Stadium<\/p>\n

Can anybody stop France? That is the question that will define this quarterfinal against Morocco, and indeed the rest of the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n

Les Bleus have been near enough unstoppable so far, with their brilliant four-pronged attack of Kylian Mbappe, Michael Olise, Ousmane Dembele and either Bradley Barcola or Desire Doue a joy to watch, even if they had to battle against a dour Paraguay last time out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"France<\/p>\n

France has been in devastating form throughout the World Cup so far. (Getty Images: Tom Weller)<\/p>\n

Morocco will come to play though, and surely won’t be nearly as defensive as Paraguay was in its ill-fated attempt to thwart the French.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flying wing-back Achraf Hakimi is in form and young midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi has been eye-catching throughout, though there is a fitness doubt around key striker Ismael Saibari.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, it would be an upset if Morocco were to win this game. But this is certainly the toughest test France has faced so far, with its credentials set to be challenged like never before.<\/p>\n

The winner will play Spain or Belgium.<\/p>\n

Spain vs BelgiumSaturday, July 11, 5am AEST (4:30am ACST, 3am AWST) @ Los Angeles Stadium<\/p>\n

Before the round of 16, you would have said Spain would be a clear favourite against a Belgian side that had stuttered through the early stages.<\/p>\n

But things changed in the last round, when Belgium produced a composed, professional, ruthless and highly impressive performance to belt the US 4-1 on its own patch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Charles<\/p>\n

Belgium was sensational against the US. (Getty Images: Alex Grimm)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Spain, who looked to have hit top gear in the round of 32 against Austria, stuttered and laboured to a 1-0 win over Portugal.<\/p>\n

Spain will look to keep the ball and work Belgium around, while the Red Devils showed against the US they are prepared to be more direct and dynamic if it gets the job done. With superstars on both sides, this one has the potential to deliver in a big way.<\/p>\n

The winner will play France or Morocco.<\/p>\n

Norway vs EnglandSunday, July 12, 7am AEST (6:30am ACST, 5am AWST) @ Miami Stadium\"Erling<\/p>\n

Erling Haaland has scored in each of Norway’s last 14 international games. (Getty Images: Al Bello)<\/p>\n

Norway have rowed their way into the final eight for the first time, powering past a lacklustre Brazilian side<\/a> off the back of two goals from Erling Haaland.<\/p>\n

They will take on an England team that went deep into the fires of hell at the Azteca and came out victorious<\/a>, despite being reduced to 10 men for the last half hour of the game.<\/p>\n

England’s Azteca thriller<\/a><\/p>\n

England teams of old would have buckled under the pressure put upon them by Mexico and their 80,000-strong band of supporters at the Azteca. But this England team turned a nightmare into a dreamland, at a venue haunted by so many ghosts of the past.<\/p>\n

The confidence that sort of result can build is extraordinary. Still, they must also avoid falling into the trap of feeling their Miami date with so many familiar faces is the morning after the night before. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The most familiar and fearsome of those faces is surely Haaland, who now has seven goals at this World Cup and who can strike the same primal fear in the hearts of the Englishmen he will face on Sunday that his forebears did when raiding in the ninth century.<\/p>\n

He has scored in each of his past 14 internationals for Norway and, with St\u00e5le Solbakken building his entire team around the enormous Nordic star, England knows where it must focus its increasingly threadbare defensive stocks to make it to another semifinal.<\/p>\n

But Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are both hitting form; Kane is the only striker who could match Haaland’s potency this season, with a whopping 73 goals for club and country.<\/p>\n

The winner will play Argentina or Switzerland.<\/p>\n

Argentina vs SwitzerlandSunday, July 12, 11am AEST (10:30am ACST, 9am AWST) @ Kansas City Stadium\"Lionel<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi’s aura is powering Argentina on. (Getty Images: picture alliance\/Tom Weller)<\/p>\n

Argentina have had to fight for their lives in both their knockout games so far, given a surprisingly hard time by Cabo Verde in Miami before delivering the comeback of all comebacks to overcome Egypt in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

Switzerland have, on the other hand, looked pretty solid in winning Group B and powering past an underwhelming Algeria in the round of 32.<\/p>\n

Colombia was a different case entirely, the Swiss arguably riding their luck against the horrendously wasteful South Americans in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

If Lionel Messi, who has more goals and more assists than anyone at any World Cup in history, is given the opportunities that Colombia was in Kansas City, one imagines the Swiss will have to find a way to score if they are to get through.<\/p>\n

That being said, the defending champions have looked desperately vulnerable at times, falling into the trap of thinking that they can all take the foot off the gas and hope Messi gets them out of a hole. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The winner will play Norway or England.<\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The World Cup has whittled 48 teams down to just eight, with the quarterfinals upon us and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[12910,64,63,2071,1208,138531,2592,24604,21839,2020,85,6221,21418],"class_list":["post-786410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-argentina","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-belgium","tag-england","tag-footbal","tag-france","tag-morocco","tag-norway","tag-spain","tag-sports","tag-switzerland","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}