Former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger believes there is only one team that can stop the tournament’s big favourite, France, from winning the World Cup.
France, who won the World Cup in 2018 before losing the final four years ago to Argentina, have established themselves as the clear favourite to win the tournament.
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Didier Deschamps’ side topped Group I with a full pot, having scored ten goals in the victories over Senegal, Iraq and Norway. (Norway rested 10 of their players when we were already through from the group stage)
France knocked out Sweden in the last eight before defeating Paraguay and securing a place in the World Cup quarter-finals, where they will face Morocco.
For the other quarter-finals, Spain will face Belgium, while England will face Norway.
Arsenal legend Wenger is confident that France will win the World Cup for the third time, and believes Spain is the only team “capable” of threatening the reigning favourites.
Spain started the World Cup with a goalless draw against Cape Verde, but recovered to win Group H. The European champions beat Austria in their first playoff match, before settling in with a late goal against arch-rivals Portugal.
Luis de la Fuentes’ side face Belgium in the quarter-finals on Friday night, and could have a huge showdown against World Cup favourite France.
Spain knocked out Portugal in the previous round
“France will win the World Cup,” Wenger told Sky Sports.
“I know you’ll say: ‘Of course you say that, you’re French’. But when you analyze the World Cup, the train goes at a certain pace, and you need to be able to hop on.
“The Asian teams, for example, have been eliminated because they couldn’t handle the intensity and pace of the matches. They simply didn’t have enough to compete technically.
The real question for me is Spain. If there’s one team that can beat France now, it’s Spain – because their technical level is better than France’s.
They have quality and a collective football culture that no one else in the world has at that level. It could be decisive between these two – but France is of course physically stronger,” says Wenger.
England’s reward for the heroic victory over Mexico on Monday morning is a quarter-final against Norway, which knocked out Brazil.
Thomas Tuchel’s men avoid France all the way to the final, if both teams make it there – but could face reigning champions Argentina in the semi-finals.
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