World Cup Round of 32 prediction: Last dance for Ronaldo or Modric? Spain, Salah tipped to march on

It’s the penultimate day of the Round of 32 at the FIFA World Cup. All three co-hosts, Canada, Mexico and the USA, have secured a spot in the Round of 16, as have heavyweights England, France, Brazil, Morocco and Belgium. Germany, Senegal and the Netherlands are the biggest names to have been eliminated thus far. At least a few more distinguished names will have their heart broken tonight. HT Sports predicts…

Group H winners Spain are the favourites in this tie. La Roja are yet to concede a goal in this tournament, and have a hugely talented squad and great depth off the bench. But they are yet to find the right balance in midfield — Pedri and captain Rodri have been paired with Fabian Ruiz, Dani Olmo and Mikel Merino in their three matches, none of them particularly convincing. Austria, coming off a dramatic high-scoring draw with Algeria that saw them seal qualification to the Round of 32, approach this fixture with wind in their sails. They lack the star power of Spain, but in Marko Arnautovic, Marcel Sabitzer, Konrad Laimer and David Alaba, they have a strong and experienced spine. Coach Ralf Ragnick’s high-pressing style could cause problems, but is more likely to create an end-to-end game, which would suit the reigning European champions just fine. Injuries to wingers Yeremy Pino and Nico Williams, paired with a lack of cutting edge from Ferran Torres, could hurt Spain going forward, but star winger Lamine Yamal’s return to full fitness gives Luis de la Fuente’s side a huge boost, with the Barcelona winger their most potent attacker.

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Portugal boast one of the tournament’s best squads, and on paper, should have cruised through the group stage. But they struggled against DR Congo and Colombia, either side of a resounding win over Uzbekistan that seems more an outlier than their norm. Their midfield of Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, João Neves and Bernardo Silva is second to none, but a lack of threat from their frontline has been cause for concern. The Selecao will need to bring their A-game against their strongest opponents yet — Croatia, led by the timeless Luka Modric and the experienced Ivan Perisic and Mateo Kovacic. The 2018 World Cup runners-up and 2022 bronze-medallists are admittedly not the force they were in previous editions, but still ooze the technical quality to control the game at their own tempo. Keep an eye on the battles of the full-backs — Nuno Mendes vs Josip Stanisic and Joao Cancelo vs Ivan Perisic — at both ends of the field. And, at least one Real Madrid legend, Modric or Cristiano Ronaldo, will bid goodbye to the World Cup tonight. With both sides lacking a cutting edge in attack, the match is likely to be decided by a single-goal margin.

Both sides will enter this tie with great confidence. Algeria will be riding the form of their captain Riyad Mahrez and their motivational 3-3 goal fest against Austria. Meanwhile, an experienced Switzerland team, led by Granit Xhaka, have reached the World Cup knockouts for the third consecutive time. Despite initial inconsistency in their attacking performances, Switzerland have grown into this tournament through 20-year-old sensation Johan Manzambi, who has scored three goals and looked extremely threatening. Only Kylian Mbappé and Thomas Müller have scored more at a World Cup under the age of 21 this century. It bodes well for them against a wobbly Algeria, who have enjoyed the most possession of any side this tournament but looked wobbly in defence, where Luca Zidane in goal has appeared error-prone. Switzerland, meanwhile, have not missed the retired Yann Sommer in goal, with Gregor Kobel stepping into his shoes with elan and ease. Expect a counter-attacking goal from Switzerland to seal the win.

Australia are defensively strong and well-organised, but toiled with the ball in all three group stage fixtures. A positive opening-day surprise win over Turkey aside, they are unlikely to pose a major threat to Mohamed Salah’s Egypt. The Africans went toe-to-toe with heavyweights Belgium in their group and had five different goalscorers across those three games. Salah has moved into a creative role as a central #10, and a speedy and tricky frontline will be the strongest test yet for the Australian defence. A tight and cagey game is likely, with both teams likely to circle each other rather than go for a knockout punch. The World Cup has thrown up many an upset already, but it has also proved that moments of quality from star players are all that a team needs to seal a win. Egypt and Salah fit that brief perfectly.

The winner of Algeria v Switzerland will face the winner of Colombia v Ghana. Should Egypt progress as expected, they will likely face champions Argentina, who are favourites to win against Cape Verde in their Round of 32 tie. That could set up a blockbuster battle between Mohamed Salah and Lionel Messi. Unmissable.