England finished off the Round of 16 Tuesday with a win over Colombia on penalties. It led me to think that we may be living in a parallel universe if England won a knockout game via a shootout, but no one is complaining — expect for Radamel Falcao and Jose Pekerman.
This has been one of the hardest lineups to make, simply because there were plenty of outstanding performances.
Without further ado, here's the best XI from the Round of 16. As always, a simple 4-4-2 formation is the go for us.
GOALKEEPER: Kasper Schmeichel (Denmark)
It was tough to bring myself to pick Schmeichel ahead of the others, and despite being on the losing team, he was heroic for Denmark. He made crucial plays, whether it was punching away a cross or just keeping the ball out of the net. Let us not forget he came up with that penalty save on Luka Modrić in the final minutes. He also saved a couple of Croatia’s penalties in the shootout, but ultimately, it wasn’t enough. A performance that potentially was the best of the tournament from a goalkeeper.
DEFENSE: Benjamin Pavard (France), John Stones (England), Harry Maguire (England), Ludwig Augustinsson (Sweden)
Pavard scored one of the goals of the tournament with a perfectly-struck volley against Argentina, while also managing to shut down the left side of Argentina’s attack. He bombed forward and tracked back with ease, and he's been one of France’s most underrated players of the tournament so far.
John Stones was a colossus at the back for England. He was a brick wall for most of the game, and he was confident on the ball as well. Stones is proving why Guardiola spent all that money on him.
Harry Maguire was also a standout for England in defence. Playing on the left side of the back three, he had to keep Juan Cuadrado quiet and he did that to perfection. Cuadrado had little to no impact on the game. His big noggin was always a threat on set pieces too.
Augustinsson had a big ask against Switzerland — as the left back, he had to stop Xherdan Shaqiri. For the most part, he did incredibly well considering the style of play that Sweden employ. Shaqiri whipped in a few crosses but apart from that, Augustinsson did an incredible job of nullifying the effect of the Shaq attack.
MIDFIELD: Nacer Chadli (Belgium), Paul Pogba (France), Lucas Torreira (Uruguay), Marouane Fellaini (Belgium)
Nacer Chadli, of all people, was one of the two players who really changed the game for Belgium. A winger by nature, he slotted in as a left wing-back as part of Belgium’s system and excelled. His physicality and willingness to take on defenders, as well as scoring the winning goal, helped to create the perfect combination for any substitute. It might be the best substitute performance of the World Cup so far.
It wasn’t Pogba’s best game, but it was certainly close to it. The Frenchman operated slightly further forward and this paid off. He made countless runs into dangerous areas as well as helping to break up Argentina’s play further up the field. He just needs a goal (no, his one against Australia was deemed an own goal) against Uruguay to further stake his claim to be the best midfielder in the world.
Torreira is on the verge of a move to Arsenal, and Gunners fans who watched the Uruguay vs. Portugal game will have been delighted with what they saw. Torreira was everywhere on the field. Wherever Portugal had the ball, you could bet that Torreira was in the vicinity. He was like a pitbull, darting to win the ball and providing plenty of energy in attack.
Who would have thought that Marouane Fellaini would be one to win the game for Belgium alongside Chadli? Not this writer. Fellaini came on for Dries Mertens, and his height up front proved to be the game-changer, scoring the equalizer as well as adding strength which, compared to the pint-sized Mertens, was decisive.
FORWARDS: Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Kylian Mbappé (France)
Cavani is some striker. For Uruguay’s first goal, he pings a ball from one side of the pitch to other and then drifts unnoticed into the box to bury home Suarez’s inch-perfect cross with his...well no one really knows what he scored with. Chest, face, forehead, doesn’t matter.
His second goal saw him curl home a first-time finish past a hapless Rui Patricio to give Uruguay its ticket to the Round of 16. He did come off injured though, so it will be interesting to see what happens against France.
Mbappé is the second youngest player at the World Cup. Just let that sentence sit for a second.
He tore apart Argentina’s Nicolás Tagliafico all game, and his two goals were the cherry on top of what might just be the best individual performance of the World Cup.
His electric pace won the penalty that opened France’s account in that match, and his control and dribbling was something to witness. There’s no limit to how good the boy wonder can be. This match might have marked the end of one era of outstanding players (Messi), and gave birth to the next era. It’s hard to think otherwise.
With so many incredible games, it always meant that someone had to miss out. We now honor those who were outstanding for their country but couldn’t beat out this XI:
Honorable mentions: Danijel Subašić (GK, Croatia), Jordan Pickford (GK, England), Yerry Mina (CB, Colombia), Thomas Meunier (RWB, Belgium), N’Golo Kanté (CDM, France), Luka Modrić (Croatia), Takashi Inui (CAM, Japan), Neymar (LW, Brazil)
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