FIFA president Gianni Infantino said this week he is thrilled with the opening round of matches in this World Cup which has thrown up some surprising results including some major upsets.

“I have seen all the matches, and this has been the best group stage of a World Cup ever. The matches have been of great quality in beautiful stadiums,” said Infantino.

“There are no more small teams and no more big teams. The level is very equal,” he said adding “this shows that football is really becoming truly global.”

According to him, the knockout stage matches had “over 51,000 on average [spectators]. Record-breaking figures on TV – we already had over two billion viewers.

In addition, he said FIFA expects “to reach the five billion [TV] viewers [mark] around the world,” before the tournament ends and is also hoping that the on-field action will continue to be as riveting as the first 56 games.

Down to the final 8

With the quarter-finals almost upon us, the 2022 World Cup has entered its crunch stage and a host of major nations have been sent packing and only eight teams are left.

Fans of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will meanwhile be pleased to see the two icons are still in it – meaning a showdown between the two greats is still a possibility.

The eight teams that are still in the running for this year’s title are England, France, Netherlands, Argentina, Croatia, Brazil, Morocco and Portugal.

England defeated Senegal to progress and set up a meeting with France, who beat Poland in the last 16. The Netherlands overcame the USA and will play Lionel Messi’s Argentina in their next match.

Croatia will face Brazil in the quarter-final while Morocco, who sprung an upset on Spain, will face Portugal, who coasted past Switzerland.

This next stage will be played on Friday and Saturday.

Croatia will take on Brazil in Friday’s early match, while Netherlands meets Argentina later in the day. On Saturday, it’s Morocco up against Portugal and then later that day England tackles France.