Paul Merson describes France as ‘one-man team’ as he makes ‘bullish’ prediction
I feel very bullish about England versus France. Very bullish. I must be missing a trick given the way everyone is going on about France. I would go as far as saying they are a one-man team.
Gareth Southgate's side have the quality to hurt and beat them, 100%. For me, whoever wins this match will go on to win the World Cup.
If Kylian Mbappe is a nine out of 10 against England, France have won the game. If he is a six or seven, France do not have a chance of beating England.
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Whereas if Harry Kane is a six or seven, England still have a huge chance of winning. They have match-winners in Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden.
I look at France's team and I really wonder who would get into England's side. Besides Mbappe and maybe Raphael Varane, I don't think any of them would.
You wouldn't swap Olivier Giroud for Kane or Antoine Griezmann or Ousmane Dembele for any of the attackers we've got. There is not a chance I would swap any of France's midfielders for Jude Bellingham and Kyle Walker is as good as anyone at full-back.
I don't get what all the fuss is about. This is not the same France side that won the 2018 World Cup in Russia when N'Golo Kante and Paul Pogba were among their best players.
The only thing I would say is the first 30 minutes of England's display against Senegal was rotten. We've now had that a few times, against Wales we were poor in the first half and it was the same against the USA. I don't think we can start like that against France.
I'd like to think England will stick to their guns and stay with a back-four, particularly given how well Bellingham is playing. You have to let him off the leash as he can take the game by the scruff of the neck.
France won't want to chase Bellingham all around the pitch. Declan Rice can take care of Griezmann and then you're leaving them two versus two and I think England would have the upper hand.
I just don't see us changing the way we're playing when Bellingham is destroying teams. If you start going 'we'll stop Mbappe by changing systems' – I think that's poor in my opinion.
If there are any players in world football that can stop Mbappe – it's his PSG team-mate Achraf Hakimi or Walker. They're the only two that have the pace to get under his skin.
You just have to show Mbappe down the line, as soon as he comes inside you've had it. I didn't get Poland the other day, it reminded me of everyone showing Lionel Messi on his left-foot.
It was interesting to hear what Matt Cash said, that his legs just went numb trying to keep up with Mbappe as he is a decent defender. For me, the Paris Saint-Germain star is the best player in the world as we talk today.
PORTUGAL/RONALDO
Before the World Cup, I said Portugal were my dark horses. They're a star-studded team and they're now in even better shape without Cristiano Ronaldo.
Fair play to Fernando Santos, he should be knighted. He showed more balls than any other manager when dropping Ronaldo. Santos said 'I'm not having that, we don't do that here' after Ronaldo stropped off against South Korea.
The Portugal boss arguably put his whole career on the line with that call but fair play to him after Goncalo Ramos scored a brilliant hat-trick.
Portugal are a major threat for me. I might be horribly wrong but I just don't see Brazil winning the World Cup. I give Portugal a better chance. They have such a good bench. The other day against Switzerland they also brought on Rafael Leao. He is a top player in my book.
It must be so nice to turn around and see so many excellent options – not least one of the best finishers in the history of the game in Ronaldo.
MOROCCO
I don't want to sound horrible as Morocco have had a brilliant World Cup but I don't give them a chance against Portugal in the quarter-finals.
They worked so, so, so hard to shut Spain out over the course of 120 minutes. They were dead on their feet. I think Spain completed 1050 passes during the match while Morocco attempted just over 300. It's got to be one of the biggest records, surely.
I just can't see how Morocco somehow rally themselves and dig out another unbelievable result. They used six substitutions against Spain and were the walking wounded.
I have to say, I was really disappointed with Spain. I had really high hopes for them after their first group match when they thrashed Costa Rica 7-0.
Don't get me wrong, Costa Rica were atrocious that day but it just goes to show toothless tippy-tappy football gets you nowhere without killer instinct in front of goal when it really matters.
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