Slaven Bilic: Boundless energy gives the underdogs their bite at World Cup 2018

Top quality: Uruguay's Edinson Cavani and Diego Godin have impressed
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Slaven Bilic29 June 2018

So far in this World Cup we have seen many positives and many different styles. There have been teams who have been compact, others who have class but lack energy and yet more who have that electricity.

The other good thing for the tournament is that nobody, especially from the so-called big guns, has really impressed us that much — not Brazil, not Spain, not France and certainly not Germany. No one, up to now, has shown their best. Spain, Brazil and Argentina are talking about working up towards their peak, but we haven’t seen it yet.

It is the less-fancied teams, like Croatia, Belgium, Uruguay and England, who have emerged from the first round with more admirers — and this quartet all have one thing in common: they have energy and passion.

Yes, they have class as well, like Spain — who probably have more of that than anyone else — but this is the World Cup and you can’t win it on ability alone. You need energy and, so far, I have seen that in abundance from those four teams. Okay, you can add in Mexico and Sweden, but the four I have mentioned have a combination of energy and ability — and that can take you a long way.

If I was a manager of any other team left in the tournament, I would not want to meet any of these four. The one caveat would be that I have not yet seen England or Belgium play against really tough opponents. Yes, they played each other on Thursday, but the fact both had qualified makes a difference.

In a league you can’t maintain that top energy level over a season, but the World Cup is different. Seven games and you can win the tournament. You can stay on that wave for that relatively short time, maintain momentum.

So, to the last 16...

Uruguay, who meet Portugal, have impressed me. They remind me of Atletico Madrid, and not just because their central defenders, Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez, are from the club. The whole team is reminiscent of Atletico. Their midfield is good on the ball but has power and up front they have Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, who are in the top five strikers in the world.

Perfect record: Uruguay advanced with three wins from three
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I would also mention the revival of Scandinavian football, with Sweden and Denmark qualifying for the next stage. Croatia meet Denmark in the last 16 and, probably, if we met 10 times, we would expect to win more than half.

This is a game, though, against a team who are difficult to beat. They also have Christian Eriksen, who is capable of deciding any game. In the last few years I have seen us lose to Iceland, Norway and draw to Finland, so we can struggle against those physical teams. Having said that, I fancy us to go through.

In other games, I would expect Spain to beat the host nation Russia. I know I said that Spain haven’t impressed yet, but I feel Russia would have to play a perfect game to win.

Mexico can surprise any team, but I would go for Brazil — just. Switzerland against Sweden is 50/50 for me, with Sweden, perhaps, having the edge.

Teams that could rival England for World Cup glory

France have shown their potential but only in glimpses. Their only consistent players for me have been Raphael Varane and N’Golo Kante. As for their opponents, Argentina, I am a fan. They have been subject to a lot of criticism, but nothing unites you as a team more than that sort of antagonism.

As for England, they have that energy and class and can certainly make it through to the next round.

Early German exit was always on cards

It was a bit of a surprise to see Germany go out in the group phase, but I was not as shocked as some other people were.

I said at the start of the tournament that I did not have Germany among my top three favourites to win. I didn’t rule them out completely, but only because of their mentality and their know-how in tourmanents.

Ozil reacts after holders Germany are dumped out
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But now they are out and, from what we saw in their three matches, they have lost some of their most important assets: their drive, that energy, that physical strength. They became too stale, their style too complicated.

The Bundesliga has become a little predictable also. When you watch it, it seems sometimes as though everyone thinks in the same way. If you want to move from Position A, you always have to go to Position B.

Overall, VAR has had a positive influence. It is not yet perfect and it would be better if it was involved less than it is, but I am still a friend of the system because, in a tournament like the World Cup, the stakes are so high. It is vital to get the right decisions.

The first South Korean goal against Germany, which was originally given offside, was a perfect example, because there was no way the referee could have seen that it was Toni Kroos who had touched the ball last, playing the goalscorer onside.

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