Morocco loses Saibari for quarterfinal, Messi leads Golden Boot race

Wednesday was the tournament’s first day without a match, no games, just sixteen teams catching their breath and eight of them sweating out team news before the quarterfinals kick off Thursday. Morocco got the worst of it.

Saibari ruled out, Rahimi steps in

Ismael Saibari, the midfielder who has quietly been Morocco’s best player all tournament (a goal against Brazil, the winner over Scotland, an equalizer against Haiti), will not face France on Thursday. Coach Mohamed Ouahbi confirmed the hamstring injury picked up in the win over Canada has not healed in time, saying the match is “coming too early for him,” while leaving the door open for the rest of the run. Soufiane Rahimi steps into a lineup that already looks nothing like the one that reached the semifinals in 2022 (only four players from that squad are still starting). France, unbeaten and averaging better than three goals a game, will not lose sleep over the swap.

The Golden Boot gets crowded

Elsewhere the previews turned into a stat dump, and the best line belongs to Erling Haaland, who apparently ages differently than the rest of us. Seven goals in four games is the best World Cup start since Grzegorz Lato in 1974, and it still leaves him two behind the pace. Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé sit on eight apiece heading into the last eight, which means the sport’s most decorated forward and its most explosive one are both currently outscoring the most physically terrifying specimen in the tournament. Norway play England on Friday, so Haaland gets one more shot to close the gap before the games run out.

Argentina’s old guard meets a young grudge

Speaking of numbers nobody asked for: Argentina’s starting XI against Egypt averaged 30 years and 173 days, the second-oldest lineup the country has ever fielded at a World Cup, trailing only the 2018 squad that fell to France in the round of 16. That veteran, unbeaten core now meets a Switzerland side that has not reached a World Cup quarterfinal since 1954. One team is leaning on reputation and know-how, the other on a 72-year grudge. Kansas City on Saturday is the pick of the round.

Golden Boot: Messi and Mbappé lead on 8, Haaland next on 7.

Check where every team stands heading into the last eight on the live table.

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