(ESP-ENG) Llegaron los octavos y la agonía sigue [Opinión]

Hello friends, good vibes to all.

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In my last post here, I talked about the nature of the Round of 32 matches in this World Cup, noting their particularly agonizing nature. I said this before seeing the Portugal-Croatia, Egypt-Australia, and Argentina-Cape Verde matches. What does this mean? Well, it means the trend is clear: we're in an extremely evenly matched World Cup where it's impossible to predict where an upset might occur. While it's true that from now on, from the Round of 16 onward, the balance should be more even, the reality is that anything can happen. The upcoming matches are complete unknowns.

Let's talk about the two most important of the three matches I mentioned. The Portugal-Croatia game was known to be a real nail-biter because I think they're very similar teams. For me, the Portuguese have been a bit of a disappointment. I think they have one of the best squads in this World Cup, but they haven't shown much of that quality on the pitch. Vitinha has had a lackluster World Cup, as has Joao Neves; Cristiano can't do much if he doesn't get the ball, but he's also 41 years old. And coach Roberto Martínez knows this, which is why he dared to substitute him in such a crucial match. Luckily for the Spaniard, his move paid off. Portugal ended up winning, hanging on for dear life, and little was said about the substitution. Was it surprising? - Well, yes. I don't think anyone would have done it; it's like if Scaloni had decided to take Messi off yesterday.

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Portugal faces Spain on Monday, a Spain that comfortably defeated a nonexistent Austria. If the Portuguese want to advance to the quarterfinals, they'll have to play the game they haven't yet played in this World Cup. A team like Croatia, which also didn't show much, really pushed them to the limit. Had it not been for a slight touch on the ball in the disallowed Croatian goal in extra time, the outcome might have been different. The point is, we once again witnessed a lot of tension in this match, but if we're talking about stress, we have to analyze what almost happened yesterday in Miami. The pre-match build-up to Argentina vs. Cape Verde was all about how much fun the Argentinians were going to have against the African team; the thought of going home at the hands of a debutant and clearly inferior team never crossed their minds. "The fish dies by its own mouth," as the saying goes.

It was certainly unthinkable that Cape Verde would eliminate the reigning world champions, but matches have to be played, and that's what they did yesterday. In my opinion, Argentina hasn't played at 100% of what I expected. They have players who aren't performing as expected (De Paul, Almada, Enzo Fernández, Molina, and Lautaro Martínez). These players could clearly offer more, and generally speaking, they aren't. An Argentina team completely dependent on Messi's goals—I'm not sure how much of a favorite they can be. The reality is that against Cape Verde, their weaknesses were exposed. Mind you, this is also to the credit of the Africans, but hey, they were facing Argentina, not just any team.

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Cape Verde put Argentina under immense pressure, and that has to be said. It was a great match, but what made it truly epic was the near-miss the Africans almost pulled off. I think it was the most nail-biting match of this World Cup, along with Paraguay-Germany and Portugal-Croatia. What awaits us in the round of 16 is unpredictable. The current trend shouldn't change, considering the remaining teams are the most evenly matched.

Well folks, that's all for today. I hope you enjoyed it.
¡Hugs to everyone, see you next time!

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