Football World Cup: More penalty shootouts on the quarter-final radar

  • 07/07/2018

While the opening two quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup produced outright results, Newshub football tragics Henry Rounce and Chris Forster aren't so hopeful for Sunday's encounters.

France easily dispatched Uruguay 2-0 and Belgium edged five-time champions Brazil 2-1 on Saturday morning (NZ time).

"The Belgians came out and got those two goals early to put Brazil under a heap of pressure," says Rounce. "That was awesome.

"De Bruyne was playing a little further forward - he's way more dangerous and gets in those positions where he can shoot a bit more. We saw that great strike that arrowed into the corner."

Rounce has France as favourites against Belgium in their semi-final clash, but he predicts a "horrible game" for England against Sweden in the third quarter-final.

"We know Sweden don't offer much going forward," he says. "They've going to sit back and say to England, 'it's up to you to break through and get past us'.

"It's a very difficult game for England and another shootout is a good possibility."

Russia have shocked everyone getting this far and Rounce thinks penalties will be the only way they progress further.

More drama in store for Sunday morning.

Newshub.

Watch the above video for more and join us at 6am Sunday for live updates of the Russia vs Croatia Football World Cup quarter-final.