'Dictator' Mbappe dispatches Morocco with disdain

France's Kylian Mbappe (10) gestures during the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between France and Morocco in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Hello and welcome to another edition of Offside. For those of us expecting a miracle in the Casablanca Derby, there was none, as France dismissed Morocco with the disdain of a dictatorship dealing with a dissident who dared express a different viewpoint.The strangest thing was perhaps Mbappe, who is going toe-to-toe with Messi for the Golden Boot and the overall World Cup goals record, missing a penalty before scoring a worldie. Dembele added a second — imagine a world where the Ballon d’Or winner isn’t your best player — and it was business as usual, except the usual in this case is terrifying.Mbappe appeared absolutely unbothered after missing his penalty, with the air of a person who knows any gaffe can be airbrushed out of history because France create chances by the dozen.For Morocco, it was again too little, too late, and their first shot on target came six minutes before time, by which point the party had been wrapped up. While Mbappe and Dembele will get the plaudits, it was down to Rabiot and Manu Kone to ensure that Ayyoub Bouaddi never managed to impose himself.

As Rabiot said after the match: “In the spells when we did not have the ball and let them keep it, we felt they were not dangerous and that we had nothing to fear from that team.”

This is the first time in years that a team looking to win the World Cup are playing four attackers instead of three, yet are not conceding chances.

The Athletic noted that France haven’t conceded a goal in the knockout stage; they have barely let teams have a look-in. The xG figures for each opponent read: Sweden (0.7), Paraguay (0.2) and Morocco (0.1). France aren’t just stopping teams from scoring despite having only six defensive-minded outfield players on the field; they are actually preventing teams from creating any meaningful chances.Perhaps that will change when they meet Spain, but at this moment, no one seems capable of beating the French juggernaut. But then again, that’s what most folks thought about Napoleon until he met a man named Nelson. But for now, to borrow a line popular in Indian media circles, there’s only one emotion when facing this French team: Bhay ka mahaul.

Spain vs Belgium

12:30am IST, July 11In My Fair Lady, while teaching proper pronunciation and enunciation to Eliza Doolittle, Professor Henry Higgins uses the phrase: the rain in Spain is mainly in the plain.

That’s not quite historically or climatically accurate, but football teams know the pain of playing Spain. Their latest victims: Belgium.Spain vs Belgium is truly Order vs Chaos. Spain are the only sane team left at this party, which has already seen Argentina perform miracles twice, Norway show big Viking energy, France play like a dictatorship, and England discover their stiff upper lip.Spain, on the other hand, are playing like Spain, handing out the pain with the efficiency of a bureaucrat who says lunch ke baad aao and then passes your file to another guy, who passes it to another guy until you get dizzy, before they form an interdepartmental committee to find out where the file has reached.

Belgium, on the other hand, have been the living embodiment of the Second Law of Thermodynamics: they drew with Egypt and Iran, battered New Zealand, came back from the dead against Senegal, and then handed the US a harsh karmic lesson after their president used the dial-a-friend feature.How they got hereSpain started with a goalless draw against Cabo Verde before discovering their attacking threat to beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 and Austria 3-0, and hand Portugal and Ronaldo an exit ticket.Belgium, on the other hand, have tottered here in a zigzag fashion, drawing with Egypt and Iran before beating New Zealand to top their group. They pulled off the greatest comeback of this World Cup after being 2-0 down in the 85th minute and then, in the US game, restored the rules-based international order with a 4-1 decimation of hosts USA.Warrior WatchAll eyes will be on Lamine Yamal, Spain’s Baby Yoda, who, on his day, looks like he’s one with the Force and the Force is one with him, the Force being Total Football.

He is world football’s most exciting wunderkind.For Belgium, all eyes will be on Charles De Ketelaere, who has taken the spotlight from the Golden Generation and drifts, connects, and looks like the most likely candidate to figure out where the file is hidden.Likely Starting XI

BattleplanSpain will, as always, bring the pain by passing in neat little triangles in the grand tradition of their forefathers, but it must be pointed out that none of them are Xavi or Iniesta.

Pedri will offer the escape route. Olmo will drift between the lines. Yamal will hold the width on the right and force Belgium to decide whether to double up on him or die alone.Belgium, on the other hand, will sit deeper, hoping to keep Spain passing in zones that don’t hurt them. This could turn out to be the battle of turnovers: Spain have the highest number among the quarter-finalists, with 50, while Belgium are close behind with 41.

However, the latter have 15 turnovers that have ended in shots, with four of them resulting in goals.Belgium need to survive Spain’s possession and hit the space behind them, with Lukebakio and Trossard running into the channels and De Ketelaere causing menace across the pitch. And they have to ensure no one is left to deal with Yamal alone.The midfield is the adult table. Rodri and Pedri are where Spain’s order begins.

Raskin and Tielemans are where Belgium’s disruption must start. Onana’s absence hurts because Belgium lose height, legs, ball-winning and second-ball aggression. Against Spain, that is not a minor problem. It is like staging a bar fight after misplacing your biggest chair.Both benches have stars who can make a difference. Spain have Merino, while Belgium can bring on De Bruyne, Doku or Lukaku to put the cherry on top.Non-footballing TriviaBefore Belgium became Belgium, large parts of its territory were once part of the Spanish Netherlands, ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs. Charles V was born in Ghent, in modern-day Belgium, and went on to become King Charles I of Spain, making one of Spain’s most powerful monarchs a Belgian export.In the arts, Belgium gave the world the delightful reporter Tintin, while Spain gave us Don Quixote, a man who declared war on infrastructure. Which, frankly, is the perfect cultural preview: Belgium arrive with Tintin-level curiosity and chaos, while Spain arrive with Don Quixote’s certainty, except this time the windmills are actual passing lanes.Dinner Table ConversationCan anyone score against Spain?