Frogs Legs against Fez Heads, who will march on?

In the deserts of Sudan, And the gardens of Japan. From Milan to Yucatan

In the wilds of Borneo and the vineyards of Bordeaux, Every woman, every man

Das ist gut! C'est fantastique.

These lines encapsulate what a world cup means to most of the world apart from those poor souls who do not like football, and even some of them get sucked in at least for the duration.

Twenty eight days ago today, we started with forty eight teams from around the globe and now we are down to the last eight. Six are from Europe and one each from Africa and South America.

Before we look at today's match up, a quick word about the last round. We had thrills and spills, controversies, plenty of food for the conspiracy theorists amongst us.

We said farewell to some of the stars of the last decade, Neymar from the Samba Kings and Cry Baby Ronaldo, although it would not surprise me, if he still thinks he could make a contribution.

I would posit that in the end there were no real surprises, despite there being some close calls especially for the Argies against the Pharaohs. We nearly had to get out Don’t Cry for me Argentina, but there is still time for that old favourite.

The quarter finals start with a rematch between the Fez Heads and the Frogs Legs, who played each other in the Semifinal in 2022. 

Some people are calling this game France A against France B due to the preponderance of the Moroccan players who were either born in Gaul or ply their trade there. The goalkeeper was born in Montreal and that is sort of French as well.

The Fez Heads are out for revenge for that defeat, this could be a very tough game for the froggies. In their last game against Paraguay, their opponents just kicked them to pieces, and I would expect an aggressive approach from the Fez Heads as well. The idea is to knock the equilibrium out of the way the Frogs like to play. As we know frogs are amphibians and need water to thrive, so if the Fez Heads can dry up the possession that the Frogs thrive on, it could be difficult.

In the Frogs first game against the other African champions, Senegal, they should have been trailing two nil at half time, but Senegal was profligate in front of goal, and the Frogs punished them in the second half. Even against the Vikings B team, the Frogs were vulnerable at the back. Paraguay did not try to apply pressure on Les Bleus, they were playing for penalties from the first minute.

All this adds up to the fact that Les Bleus have not yet really been troubled defensively to date, but I think that will change tonight.

As we know, the real strength of Les Bleus is their attacking prowess, so one player who will really have to be on top form tonight is the aforementioned Canadian born goalie quaintly known as Bono. Threr is a U2 song called Fez Being Born, perhaps if he wins tonight, he can get the other Bono to do a duet with him. At the end other, the exciting Talbi who plays for Sunderland might not start but could come on to make an impact.

Talbi quick footed

Bono will he have the edge?

For the Frogs, the two to watch out for are Upamecano at the back and Dembele up front.

 

Hard to break like the toy

strikes like a Cobra

One last thing, and I am not going to dive into all the conspiracy theories and supposed bias towards the Argies, from the evil empire, but given all the noise there is around this topic, the decision by the evil empire to appoint five Argentinian officials to oversee the game tonight is just baffling. It shows a complete disconnect from the world around them, the optics are terrible and it was so avoidable.

I will stick with Les Bleus, but I would not be surprised if the Fez Heads caused an upset.

Tomorrow we will preview the matchup between Espana and the Brussel Sprouts.

One last thing, I am glad I do not live in Paris, because I have a feeling that whatever the outcome is tonight, there will be a lot of "action" on the streets of Paris that probably will not be much fun to be around.