As the Round of 16 ended, showcasing some unexpected performances by numerous underdogs, as well as the marquee names in the World Cup 2022 in Qatar. The teams in the quarterfinals are Croatia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Argentina, Morocco, Portugal, England, and France.

The quarterfinals are anticipated to be among the most competitive in the history of the World Cup. This assumption comes in the light of England and France scheduled clash. France will be locking horns with England to qualify for the semifinals. Tournament favourites Brazil will be locking horns with Croatia, who ended Japan’s dream in penalties. Leo Messi and company will be taking on the Netherlands in their fixture.

Underdogs Morocco will be hoping to pull off another act similar to what they did with Spain against their Iberian neighbours Portugal. The quarter-final fixture for all the countries can’t be termed a mismatch as each team will be contesting to snatch a win.

But are Brazil that invincible? Some have claimed the Selecao is being credited for more than what it deserves as many saw gaps in the Thiago Silva-led team.

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Problems Brazil can face

The Brazilian football team, who are famous for their easy style as opposed to modern football’s press-press-and-press, has shown its gaps. Despite having big names like Neymar, Vinicius Jr, Raphinha, Thiago Silva, and Casemiro, the team still seems to lack in many aspects of the game.

Despite the big names, it lacks depth in the squad especially owing to Neymar being among the most vulnerable players in the squad. Neymar recently suffered an ankle injury against Cameroon which put a question mark on his return in the World Cup. However, Neymar returned to find space on the scoresheet against South Korea. Hence, if Brazil loses Neymar likely due to injury issues, they would fail to fill that void.

Not only Neymar but also the gaps in Brazil’s midfield and defence have been clearly visible. The defence solely relies on captain Thiago Silva as his teammates, at best, are not known for their consistency namely Militao and Alex Sandro, and even Danilo.

The midfield’s lack of consistency is also prone to questions. A seasoned Casemiro is not enough to cover up Fred’s sloppiness and won’t help against big teams such as France or England.

The only thing that Brazil has found till now is a reliable conveyor of the ball into the net, Richarlisson. But can he foil the defence of better managed teams like France or even the Netherlands under Van Gaal, provided the Dutch escape the Messi trap?

Fixtures for FIFA World Cup and where can you see it?

Croatia will face Brazil on December 9 at 8:30 pm; the Netherlands will clash with Argentina on December 10 at 12:30 am; followed by Portugal locking horns with Morocco; a much-anticipated clash between England and France will be played on December 11 at 12:30 am. The matches will be streamed on Jio Cinema app and Sports 18.

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Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo in an interview with Journalist Piers Morgan opened up about the unfortunate demise of his newborn son. The football star in his interview stated that it was the most difficult time of his life and further added the struggle of channeling emotions.

In the video snippet of the interview, Cristiano opened up about the death of his newborn boy after he and his partner Georgina Rodriguez announced that they were expecting twins back in October. The football star stated that it was one of the worst moments that he went through since his father’s death. Ronaldo further added that he and his wife failed to find a rationale behind what happened.

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Watch the video here:

Ronaldo, in his interview, also expounded on the juxtaposition of the situation where he was mourning the death of his newborn son while also welcoming his daughter into his house. Ronaldo also alleged that his club, Manchester United, didn’t believe him after he told the administration that his daughter was sick which led to him not going up to the president of the club and talking about it.

Watch video here:

Cristiano Ronaldo and his wife Georgina Rodriguez announced the death of their newborn boy back in April after reports of the couple expecting twins surfaced back in October 2021.

Ronaldo’s interview with Piers Morgan

Ronaldo has recently made the headlines after he appeared for a Piers Morgan interview where the Portuguese star added his takes on the inadequate functioning of the club. Ronaldo recently also added to his targeted attack on the administration of Manchester United where he stated that the American owners of the club do not care for it.

The Portuguese star also targeted his former teammate, Wayne Rooney, for his criticism about him and added that his sentiments stem from jealousy.

Watch video here:

On the career front

Cristiano Ronaldo will be leading the Portugal side in the Fifa 2022 World which is being hosted in Dubai. Portugal is in Group H along with Ghana, Uruguay, and Korea and will first start their campaign against Ghana on 24th November.

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Week 16 was the last week of the Premier League until the English teams meet again after the World Cup. The match week, therefore, lived up to its expectations as each match ended up being a nail-biting fixture which saw City being stung by Brentford at the last minute and leading to City’s upset. Whereas, Manchester United was able to pull away from Fulham in the closing minutes of the game with super substitute Garnacho.

The Premier League week 16 saw Manchester City clash with Brentford, Liverpool head-to-head with Southampton, Bournemouth vs Everton, West Ham vs Leicester City, Newcastle clash with Chelsea, Wolves going the distance with Arsenal, Brighton clashing with Aston Villa and Fulham clashing with Manchester United.

Premier League giants, Manchester City, were startled by the Brentford side as Ivan Toney stung again, after scoring one, in the closing minutes of the match which led to Brentford’s victory as the match concluded in a 2-1 win for Brentford. Liverpool vs Southampton became a riveting match-up as the reds drew first blood in the opening minutes. Southampton answered back to the first goal, however, failed to contain the reds as Nunez went on to score 2 more which concluded in a 3-1 victory for Liverpool.

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Bournemouth dominated Everton’s side as the game concluded in a 3-0 win for Everton, Leicester followed suit and came out as victors with a 2-0 win against West Ham. Tottenham and Leeds United fixture became a spectacle to watch as both sides put up a good show as Leeds took a 3-1 lead in the first half, however, Bentacur and Ben Davies won the match for the Spurs as the match concluded in a 4-3 win for Tottenham.

Nottingham Forest was a stale fixture as Forest’s side won against Crystal Palace with a goal lead which concluded a 1-0 win for Nottingham Forest. Newcastle also followed suit with a goal while Chelsea failed to find any end product which led to a 1-0 win for Newcastle. Arsenal continued their winning bout with Martin Odegaard coming alive and scoring 2 goals which led the Wolves to lose 2-0 against Arsenal.

Brighton despite drawing first blood failed to contain Danny Ings as the latter went to score two goals which led Brighton’s 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa. On the contrary, Manchester United faced Fulham which put up a good fight. The defensive midfielder, J. Paulinha became a bother for United to pull ahead of the Fulham side, however, Garnacho turned out to be a super substitute as the match resulted in a 2-1 win for United.

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