DOHA: Eight talented teams are gearing up for the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal matches, which are set to take place on Friday and Saturday, and this has football fans around the world in high spirits. In the first quarter-final, five-time champions Brazil will take on Croatia, the runners-up of the last World Cup. This match will be followed by the Argentina-Netherlands match. On Saturday, Morocco, who knocked out Spain, will face Portugal, while defending champions France will take on England.

Neymar vs Modric

• The main challenge before Brazil is to overcome Croatia, whose captain Luka Modric was the best player in the 2018 World Cup.
• Fans are anxious to see if Neymar, Vinicius and Casemiro will be able to tear apart the Croatian defence, which has conceded only two goals in four matches so far.
• Both teams reached the last eight by overcoming the Asian challenge in the pre-quarter. Croatia beat Japan in a shootout, while Brazil beat South Korea 4-1.
• Brazil have won three of the 4 previous meetings between Croatia and Brazil. One match ended up as a draw.

van Dijk to block Messi

• The second quarter-final will witness the battle between Lionel Messi, one of the best strikers in the world, and Virgil van Dijk, the best defender,
• Despite losing the first game, the Argentina team came back strongly on the strength of Messi. They beat Australia 2-1 in the pre-quarters.
• The Netherlands entered the quarter without losing a single game. They beat USA 3-1 in the pre-quarters
• Nine times the two sides faced off, with the Netherlands winning four and Argentina three. Two draws

If they win on Friday, Brazil and Argentina will meet in the first semi-final