European football expert Andy Brassell previews the World Cup quarter-finals | France vs Morocco
One of the voices of European football on talkSPORT, Sky Sports and ESPN, well known for The Football Ramble podcast, an author and writer for The Guardian - and a regular contributor here at Spurs for almost 10 years - Andy Brassell turns his attention from club football to the World Cup and has previewed the quarter-finals for us.
Andy was at a number of the group stages matches in America and with six European countries making up the last eight, who better to run the rule over the quarter-final ties?
QF1 | France vs Morocco
Philadelphia | Thursday 9 July | 9pm UK
Andy: “I think it's interesting because obviously it's a re-run of the 2022 semi-final (France won 2-0 in Qatar) but both teams are so different. France have a more attacking line-up than anyone could have imagined. I know everyone's looked at their team in previous tournaments and said they've got better players than everyone else, I still think that holds true, but this time it's all about the attacking players. To his credit, Didier Deschamps lets those players run the team rather than forcing any particular style of play on them. Obviously, Michael Olise has been prominent, Bradley Barcola and Kylian Mbappe. You're probably going to see a bit more Desire Doue, also.
“On the other hand, Morocco have, maybe, the best midfield in the tournament so far. I think what may stop them winning this game is the fact that they don't have that centre-forward. Youssef En-Nesyri (scored winner in 2022 quarter-final vs Portugal) isn't with them this time - not that I was ever completely sold on him, to be honest, but he was important in the last World Cup. Ismael Saibari is injured and he's been playing in that slot. For what it's worth, I think he'll be really good for Bayern Munich next season. I think that probably gives France the edge. I'm interested to see, from this stage, how France deal with the next step up in teams. I think that's the case with both them and Spain, really. You feel that they've had quite good opposition so far, but not amazing opposition. I'm interested to see how they cope with that, especially defensively.”