Cape Town - By the time the four quarter-final matches are completed on Saturday night, football fans will have a hint of the destiny of the 2022 Fifa World Cup crown.
At this stage, the form book has not been a reliable indicator of results. Recently, the world’s No 1-ranked team, Brazil, was rudely surprised by Cameroon, the African team that slots in some 43 places lower on the Fifa standings.
Belgium (2), Spain (7) and Denmark (10) are all world top-10 teams that have withered in the face of a ferocious onslaught in Qatar.
Some of the eight surviving teams have had reality checks en route to the quarters, and this stands them in good stead.
Some of the minnows have relied heavily on the tactical nous of their technical staff, and the tactics have been on point. Some of these teams have shown absolute fearlessness in their play.
The quarter-final matches will be out-and-out tactical warfare as the scramble for semi-final berths comes sharply into focus. It is very likely that there will be an overwhelming emphasis on defence.
After the Morocco-Spain last-16 round clash, coaches will be convinced that clean sheets will be the No 1 priority.
For some time, there has been a belief that defences win titles.
Miserly defences are the stuff of champions. Most of the World Cup-winning teams in the past two decades have had mostly clean sheets in the knock-out stages.
Of the eight teams, Morocco’s Atlas Lions, who play Portugal on Saturday, have the best cleansheet record in Qatar to date. They conceded one goal in three group phase matches.
In their one knock-out match, against star-studded Spain, Morocco held out tenaciously in the face of the opposition’s stifling high line tactics.
Portugal’s defence has been the leakiest. In the group stage they conceded four goals, and one in the knock-out phase.
Since Morocco is Africa’s last remaining hope, every football fan on the “Mother Continent” will be rooting for the roaring Atlas Lions.
It’s Africa’s time!
Cape Times