With the World Cup quarterfinals set to kick off in Qatar on Friday and Saturday, FOX Sports Thursday announced broadcaster match assignments for the four-match slate.

On Friday, Neymar, Richarlison and Brazil samba into a must-watch match with Luka Modrić and 2018 World Cup runners-up Croatia. Pregame coverage on FOX starts at 9 a.m. ET with FIFA WORLD CUP LIVE before the match begins at 10 a.m. ET with play-by-play announcer Ian Darke and U.S. men’s national team legend and match analyst Landon Donovan on the call. Geoff Shreeves will work the sidelines.

At 2 p.m. ET, the competition continues with Lionel Messi and Argentina battling the Netherlands. Play-by-play announcer John Strong and analyst Stu Holden will call the match with Jenny Taft reporting from the sidelines.

The quarterfinals continue Saturday with doubleheader on FOX featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonçalo Ramos and Portugal taking on Morocco at 10 a.m. ET, before Kylian Mbappé and France meet Harry Kane and England in a showdown for the ages at 2 p.m. ET.

The pairing of play-by-play announcer Derek Rae and former U.S. women’s national team midfielder and match analyst Aly Wagner will anchor the Morocco vs. Portugal call, while the Strong-Holden-Taft-Shreeves quartet will cover England vs. France.

Dr. Joe Machnik will serve as rules analyst for all four quarterfinal matches.

 

MATCH

PLAY-BY-PLAY

MATCH ANALYST

SIDELINE

CROATIA / BRAZIL

Ian Darke

Landon Donovan

Geoff Shreeves

NETHERLANDS / ARGENTINA

John Strong

Stu Holden

Jenny Taft

MOROCCO / PORTUGAL

Derek Rae

Aly Wagner

ENGLAND / FRANCE

John Strong

Stu Holden

Jenny Taft

Geoff Shreeves

 

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.