The 2026 World Cup quarterfinalists have been officially confirmed: France, Morocco, Spain, Belgium, Norway, England, Argentina, and Switzerland have advanced. No team standing on this stage has made it here by luck alone; every match will be a hard-fought battle. However, if I were to predict the eventual champion, I would still cast my vote for France.

France's biggest advantage is not a single star player but a well-balanced squad. From the attacking punch of the frontline to the control of the midfield and the big-game experience of the defense, there are virtually no obvious weak spots. The deeper the World Cup goes, the less it becomes about flashy offense and more about which team makes fewer mistakes—and France is one of the teams with the lowest error rate among the quarterfinalists.

Facing Morocco, France's biggest test will be how to break down a compact defense. Morocco possesses strong willpower and extremely high tactical execution, but France has more players capable of changing the course of the match. As long as they can score first, the tempo of the game will likely fall into a rhythm that France is familiar with.