5 articles
Rodri has run this World Cup from deep, the pulse at the heart of everything Spain do. Argentina know it. Ahead of the final at MetLife, the fight to disrupt Spain's metronome may settle everything.
The World Cup semi-final in Atlanta may hinge on whether De Paul, Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez can smother Jude Bellingham's runs from deep.
Argentina are heavy favourites and unbeaten in seven meetings, but Switzerland arrive without a single deficit all tournament and a defence Colombia could not crack. Here is where the last-eight tie will be decided, and why the goals market is tempting.
Norway have never been this far, and England have never fielded a defence this unsettled. Opta calls it the tightest quarter-final of the eight, and it may come down to whether anyone can handle Erling Haaland.
Spain won it 2-1, but Opta had them at 17 shots to five and 2.08 expected goals to 0.37. This is the tactical story of a quarter-final the scoreboard kept insisting was close, and never really was.
