Eight teams are left in the World Cup, and the quarterfinals feature the top four countries in FIFA’s pretournament men’s world rankings plus two others in the top 10.
France looks like a juggernaut and is the betting favorite at just under 2-1, followed by Spain and defending champion Argentina at 7-2 and England at 9-2. Norway is 14-1, while Belgium, Switzerland and Morocco are 28-1.
All games are airing in the U.S. on Fox and Peacock in English and in Telemundo in Spanish.
France vs. Morocco
Thursday, 3 p.m.
Foxborough, Mass.
France dominated in group play by outscoring opponents 10-2, an impressive showing even considering Norway rested Erling Haaland and almost all its starters, and rolled over Sweden 3-0 at the beginning of the knockout stage. Kylian Mbappé scored his 19th career World Cup goal in a hard-fought, 1-0 victory against Paraguay. Four years removed from reaching the semifinals, Morocco drew with Brazil in its opener, knocked out the Netherlands on penalty kicks and bounced back from a rough start to beat co-host Canada to reach the quarterfinals. France is favored to advance.
“I do not want to talk about euphoria getting to us,” France coach Didier Deschamps said. “And I do pay a lot of respect to this Moroccan team. We know what we are expecting.”
Spain vs. Belgium
Friday, 2 p.m.
Inglewood, Calif.
A surprising draw against Cape Verde early only seemingly prepared Spain for handling tight games. It eliminated Uruguay 1-0, and after cruising past Austria 3-0 in the round of 32 got past Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal thanks to Mikel Merino’s goal in stoppage time. Belgium rallied from 2-0 down with five minutes left in regulation time to beat Senegal, then blew out the U.S. in Seattle after FIFA let Folarin Balogun play despite his automatic red-card suspension. Spain is favored.
Norway vs. England
Saturday, 4 p.m.
Miami Gardens, Fla.
The underdog story of the tournament is Norway, with Haaland leading the way and fans and players doing the Viking Row all over the U.S. as giant crowds celebrate back home. Haaland scored his sixth and seventh goals to upset five-time champion Brazil and get the Scandinavian country into the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time. England endured a raucous crowd at the Azteca Stadium to beat Mexico in a round-of-16 thriller but lost veteran midfielder Jordan Henderson to a wrist injury from a postgame celebration. England is a slight favorite.
