The quarter-final round of the 2026 World Cup is now taking center stage after several giant teams such as Brazil, Germany, and the Netherlands were eliminated early. The tournament, marked by geopolitical dynamics, leaves the eight best teams to compete for tickets to the semi-finals.
Sports observer from Indonesian Football People (RSI), Frans Immanuel Saragih, highlighted the composition of the teams advancing to the top eight. Currently, six teams hail from Europe, while Argentina and Morocco are the only two remaining non-European representatives. This situation puts both in a difficult position to break the dominance of the Old Continent, which has long been dominant on the global football stage.
Frans paid special attention to Morocco, which possesses quality players in top world clubs. According to him, Morocco's success will largely depend on their discipline and on-pitch creativity, similar to the impressive performance they showed in the previous edition of the World Cup.
On the other hand, Argentina as defending champions faces a major challenge to maintain the winning tradition of Latin American teams. Although they struggled against Egypt in the previous round, Argentina's champion mentality will be tested again in a crucial match against Switzerland. Switzerland's tactical discipline is believed to pose a real threat to the defense line of the Argentine squad.
Overall, the balance of power in the quarter-finals presents fierce competition between teams with a history of titles, such as France, Spain, and England, against challengers aiming to rewrite history. Frans emphasized that the title race remains wide open for any team capable of turning the smallest opening into a goal amid tight opponent defenses.
