All eyes will be on the two forwards in the teams. The first is a 41-year-old legend, playing his sixth World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo, who will seek to make the best of his role as a poacher for the Portuguese. For Spain, it will be the 18-year-old wizard, Lamine Yamal, who will be hugging the right-side touchline but will use feints, dribbles and every trick in the book to maraud towards goal with killer passes or strikes.
At this stage of the World Cup though, the knockouts… both teams will need all hands… or feet on deck to really compete. Spain will be the favourite because of their record so far. They haven’t conceded a goal in the World Cup as their possession game has strangled opponents. They have got better in later games; the 3-0 win against Austria was clinical, with the latter not even mustering a shot at goal.
But Portugal features an athletic and experienced team and is the biggest challenge that La Furia Roja (as Spain’s football team is called) has faced so far. Let’s brace for a closely fought game.
– Srinivasan Ramani
