Forty-eight teams started these World Cup finals a month ago — now only seven remain
In the next two days, that will be whittled down to a final four. Morocco became the first quarter-finalists to be knocked out, losing 2-0 to the seemingly unstoppable France on Thursday
So how do the remaining contenders stack up? Here’s a look at our latest rankings
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1. France
FIFA ranking: 1
➡️
Six matches, six wins, 16 goals scored, only two conceded… who can prevent the French winning this World Cup?
If Kylian Mbappe (eight goals) doesn’t get you, then Ousmane Dembele (five goals) will instead. As it transpired, both of them got Morocco who, despite being the best African nation at the tournament, offered little resistance to Didier Deschamps’ team
France remain clear favourites to win this World Cup, not just because of their ridiculously talented attack (Michael Olise tops the tournament’s assists chart with five) but also their strong defence. They haven’t conceded a goal in their three knockout-stage matches and, to be honest, have barely allowed a chance either
They deservedly remain top of our rankings — and The Athletic’s live projection tool forecasts a 34 per cent chance of France lifting the trophy at next Sunday’s final
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2. Spain
FIFA ranking: 3
➡️
Another clean sheet and another win after defeating Portugal thanks to Mikel Merino’s 91st-minute winner
Once more, they limited their opposition to relatively few chances. The curious thing about Spain in this tournament is that their star player, Lamine Yamal, has not hit the heights we know he can yet (one goal, no assists)
But Ferran Torres combined with fellow substitute Merino for the winning goal against Portugal, showing the strength in depth of a team that would become even more dangerous if Yamal steps it up a notch. They face Belgium next in the quarter-finals later on Friday
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3. Argentina
FIFA ranking: 2
➡️
After a smooth-sailing group stage, Argentina’s knockout games have been back-and-forth humdingers against Cape Verde and now Egypt
The Cape Verde game showed something we had seen from them during their run to the trophy four years ago, when they could be susceptible to giving up leads, as they did against the Netherlands and France
But against Egypt, they produced a turnaround victory from 2-0 down, scoring three goals in 13 minutes when it seemed they were heading out
It is a concern that Argentina have laboured this much against teams they were heavy favourites to beat, but then it is also impressive that they have demonstrated the strength of character and will to win to get over the line
The question now is how much have those two matches taken out of them? They face Switzerland next, who have shown they aren’t easy to beat either. The fact they have avoided one of the more fancied teams in the quarter-finals keeps them above England in these rankings
Lionel Messi is still producing great performances (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported which team had the worst goal differential in the tournament. It was Iraq, not Tunisia. The article has been corrected.
