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With only eight teams remaining at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the business end of the global extravaganza in Qatar is upon us. Netherlands, Argentina, England, France, Croatia, Brazil, Morocco, and Portugal are the eight contenders who have a shot at winning the greatest collective honor in the game’s history.
Before turning our attention to the nail-biting quarter-finals on Friday and Saturday (9 and 10 December), we have decided to take a breather and appreciate the heroes of the round of 16. Today, we will take a look at five players who mesmerized us with their performances and give you a recap of how they fared in the pre-quarterfinals.
Now, without further ado, let’s take a quick look at the five players who were in red-hot form in the last 16 of the 2022 FIFA World Cup:
#5 Denzel Dumfries — Netherlands
Having topped Group A, Netherlands took on Group B runners-up USA in the last 16 of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The Oranje outplayed and outclassed the Americans at the Khalifa International Stadium on 3 December, securing a comfortable 3-1 victory.
Right-wingback Denzel Dumfries was at the heart of everything positive for Netherlands in the last-16 clash, pitching in with two assists and a stunning goal. In the 10th minute, Dumfries found Memphis Depay with a clever cutback at the edge of the area. The Barcelona man put his foot through the ball to find the bottom-left corner.
In the first minute of first-half injury time, Dumfries once again cut the ball back into the box from the right flank. Daley Blind arrived just in time to put the ball past a hapless Matt Turner. The provider turned scorer in the 81st minute, meeting Blind’s cross from the left with a superb volley to make it 3-1 for the Dutch.
#4 Lionel Messi — Argentina
Argentina skipper Lionel Messi was at his best in the last-16 encounter against Australia on 3 December. The Group C winners completely dominated the Group D runners-up, bagging a 2-1 victory. Messi unsurprisingly ran the show for La Albiceleste, scoring an excellent goal.
In the 35th minute, Messi put in a free-kick inside the Australian box from the right, which was cleared away by Harry Souttar. The ball eventually came to Alexis Mac Allister, who played a simple pass for Nicolas Otamendi. The center-back teed the ball up for an on-rushing Messi, who made no mistake in finding the bottom-left corner of the Australian goal. It was Messi’s first-ever goal in a World Cup knockout fixture.
The impressive goal aside, Messi played four key passes, completed a dribble, created two big chances, and won four of six ground duels. Argentina will hope to see this ruthless version of Messi when they butt heads with Netherlands in the quarter-finals on Friday (9 December).
#3 Kylian Mbappe — France
France superstar Kylian Mbappe delivered a masterclass in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Round of 16. The Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) ace scored a brace and assisted Olivier Giroud to take Group D winners France to a comfortable 3-1 victory over Group C runners-up Poland.
Mbappe, playing in his 11th World Cup game, played Giroud through on goal with a perfectly weighted pass in the 44th minute. The AC Milan man applied a sumptuous finish to find the bottom-right corner of Poland’s net.
The former Monaco man got on the scoresheet in the 74th minute, calmly finding the top-right corner of Wojciech Szczesny’s goal after Ousmane Dembele played him in space. In added time, Mbappe scored his second of the match, and it was a special one. Receiving a cutback from Marcus Thuram from the left, Mbappe came inside, steadied himself, and found the top-right corner of Szcezny’s goal with an unstoppable curler.
Mbappe now has five goals to his name at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, emerging as the tournament’s leading scorer.
#2 Yassine Bounou — Morocco
On 6 December, Morocco picked up a historic result against Spain, knocking them out on penalties to march on to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in history. The game was goalless at the end of extra time, meaning it ultimately boiled down to a nerve-wracking penalty shootout.
Just when his team needed him, goalkeeper Yassine Bounou produced the goods, making two excellent saves to take Morocco to a 3-0 win on penalties. Pablo Sarabia took the first spot kick for Spain and hit the right post of the Moroccan goal. Carlos Soler, who was next in line, went right with his kick. Bounou read his intentions and leapt to his left to make a save.
Skipper Sergio Busquets stepped up to take the third spot kick for Spain in the shootout. His shot to the left was tame and Bounou made no mistake in keeping it out.
Abdelhamid Sabiri and Hakim Ziyech put away their penalties for Morocco before Achraf Hakimi sealed the historic victory for the Atlas Lions with his decisive kick.
#1 Goncalo Ramos — Portugal
Portugal coach Fernando Santos made the difficult call of benching Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2022 FIFA World Cup round-of-16 match against Switzerland. Benfica’s 21-year-old forward Goncalo Ramos was given the nod ahead of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, and it is sufficient to say he more than lived up to the expectation.
Ramos scored three excellent goals and provided an assist to fire Portugal to a 6-1 victory over Switzerland on 6 December. With his hat trick, Ramos became the youngest player to net a treble in the World Cup knockouts since Brazil legend Pele in 1958. Apart from Ramos, Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro, and Rafael Leao found the back of the net for Portugal.
Starting his first game at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Ramos opened the scoring in the 17th minute. He found the roof of Yann Sommer’s net with an unstoppable finish from the left side of the Swiss box. Six minutes into the second 45, Ramos doubled his money, applying the finishing touch to Diogo Dalot’s clever cutback at the near post.
The 21-year-old striker completed his hat-trick in the 67th minute, receiving Joao Felix’s pass and chipping the onrushing Sommer to find the back of the net. Ramos’s 55th-minute assist to Guerreiro was unselfish as he opted to slip the left-back into the box despite being on a hat-trick himself.
