The second semi-final will be decided by day's end as four teams become two on the other side of the draw for this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
Croatia and Argentina booked their places in the final four on Friday and the two sides will meet for a place in next Sunday’s final in the first semi, which takes place on Tuesday evening.
Over on the other side, England, France, Portugal and Morocco line up for two intriguing fixtures on Saturday with the winners meeting in the second semi-final on Wednesday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo looks set to start Portugal's quarter-final clash against Morocco on the bench, and yet still, the 37-year-old dominates the conversation ahead of this vital encounter.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United legend was left out of the starting XI for his nation’s round of 16 clash with Switzerland, and it turned out to be a great call from coach Fernando Santos as his selection scored six and swatted the Swiss aside.
Ronaldo came on for the final 20-odd minutes of that one, however, the result was already beyond doubt as Portugal were leading 5-1 following an emphatic display against a decent Switzerland side.
Dropped for the first time at a major tournament since 2008, naturally, the gifted one was none too impressed with his cameo role, and discussions with the coach the next day led to rumours of Ronaldo quitting the World Cup.
However those talks proceeded, with the focus remaining on the player, who has a dramatic few months at club level, the Portuguese FA felt the need to release a statement insisting Ronaldo has an "unquestionable degree of commitment to the national team".
"The FPF clarifies that at no time did the captain of the national team, Cristiano Ronaldo, threaten to leave the national team during the internship in Qatar."
And just to make sure both sides had their stories aligned, Ronaldo maintained his commitment to the cause, posting, "a group too united to be broken by external forces. A nation too brave to be intimidated by any adversary.
"A team in the true sense of the word, that will fight for the dream until the end! Take a leap of faith with us! Come on, Portugal!"
There was no mention of whether or not Ronaldo signed Goncalo Ramos’ hat-trick ball after the game with the young striker bursting onto the world stage with three goals in said match.
Ronaldo effectively shot himself in the foot if it was the case that he expected to start every game, when it would have made total sense to rest for the final group encounter, having won their opening two matches.
Legacy building, perhaps, as he most likely wanted to add to his World Cup goals’ tally, however, it came a cropper as South Korea pulled off a shock victory ahead of the knock-out phase.
And perhaps Santos used that opportunity to turn the selection process in his favour, recognising that the team needed an injection of energy if they were to progress any further in the tournament.
A master stroke, as it happened, and now Santos can finally start to build a team where Ronaldo is no longer the main focal point.
Speaking ahead of the game, Santos revealed he had had a "frank conversation" with Ronaldo to explain why he was dropping him, and admitted international football’s record goalscorer took some convincing.
Santos said: "We did have a conversation and it would have been very bad if we did not have that conversation.
"He’s the captain of our squad and with what he represents for Portuguese football, for the Portuguese people and the national team, naturally I needed to talk to him.
"I told him in terms of strategy it is better if you don’t play, I would save him for the second half if need be.
"Cristiano, for obvious reasons, was not very happy about it. He has always been a starting player.
"He said 'do you really think it’s a good idea?’ But we had a normal conversation. I explained my viewpoints, he accepted. We had a frank and normal conversation. It’s high time to leave it alone."
Ramos, of course, responded by scoring a hat-trick as Portugal made it through to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2006.
The 21-year-old made his debut in Portugal's 4-0 win over Nigeria in a warm-up game before the World Cup and played a total of 10 minutes as a substitute in two of the three group matches.
The Benfica striker's treble made him the first player to score a hat-trick in his first World Cup start since Miroslav Klose against Saudi Arabia in 2002, and he is in contention for the golden boot with France striker Kylian Mbappe leading the way on five goals.
And he will now be firmly in the spotlight when Morocco coach Walid Regragui considers his tactics.
Morocco face a defensive dilemma after Nayef Aguerd was injured against Spain and with doubts about his fitness coach Regragui will probably have to assign captain Romain Saiss the task of marking Ramos.
Saiss is an experienced campaigner, having played six seasons for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League where his former coach Bruno Lage described him as "the Maldini of Morocco", in a glowing reference to former Italy defender Paolo.
Morocco have conceded only one goal in four matches, an own goal by Aguerd against Canada, and are one of only four teams to reach the quarter-finals without losing a match, so Ramos will need to be at his sharpest to continue his dream start.
Last week, Morocco stunned the world when they won a group that included Croatia, runners-up in Russia four years ago, and Belgium, the second-ranked team in the world.
They then continued their progress by knocking out Spain, the 2010 world champions, in a penalty shootout in the last 16 to record the furthest Arab progress in the finals.
Morocco coach Regragui said he would be quite happy not to see Ronaldo’s name on the team sheet despite Portugal’s sparkling performance without him.
"We are going to play one of the best teams in the world with one of the best players in history, so we know it is going to be tough," said Regragui. "But we will give everything we can to try to pull off a surprise.
"I don’t know if Ronaldo is going to play but as a coach I hope he doesn’t. I’ll be delighted if he doesn’t play."
Regragui has not yet ruled out West Ham defender Aguerd, who went off injured in the penalty shoot-out win over Spain, for today's match.
A nation holds its breath, to recall our own George Hamilton's famous phrase, as England line up against the reigning World Cup champions for a place in the semi-finals.
An emphatic start to the tournament from Gareth Southgate's side, walloping Iran 6-2, England were brought back down to earth by a resilient USA, before they did enough without really impressing en route to a victory over Wales.
As a result, the expected chants of 'It’s Coming Home' failed to really register on the decibel meter ahead of the knock-out stages, while the opening half hour against Senegal in the last 16 did little to stamp the word contenders on this England squad.
But then one of those moments occurred as the old guard ushered in the next generation. Jordan Henderson and Jude Bellingham combined to score, leading to the remarkable celebration of mentor and student on graduation day, as the 19-year-old took on that 56-year burden that has been sitting unsteadily on the shoulders of successive England teams for generations.
As if to rubber stamp it, Bellingham then set off on one of those rare, yet magnificent, midfield charges through centre stage, leading to the second goal and putting England on track for another quarter-final appearance.
The second half against Senegal then showed the strength that this team possesses when performing at its optimum as Southgate’s side romped to a 3-0 victory.
But just as Baddiel and Skinner were about to reform the Broudie band, that lightning seed of doubt was again sewn inside the collar of the Three Lions, with the realisation that the old enemy were waiting in the wings.
A match worthy of a World Cup final, England will now have to peak at the quarter-final stage to send Didier Deschamps’ champs home, which makes that road to lifting the upgraded Jules Rimet a lot longer and a lot windier.
For all the talk ahead of the game is how to stop Golden Boot winner elect Kylian Mbappe, who stole the show in France’s last-16 victory over Poland.
Two goals and an assist for the scintillating striker as France rolled their European couterparts to reach the last eight, Mbappe moving to the top of the goalscoring charts on five for the tournament.
Like England, France were not completely convincing on their road to the last eight, however, they have showed glimpses of what they are capable of, while their attacking quartet of the aforementioned Mbappe, Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann is probably on a par with now eliminated Brazil's as the best in the tournament.
France’s strength in depth has been questioned, while they also seem to be struggling to establish themselves as a complete unit, most notably in defence with players playing out of position and others not looking completely fit.
England have looked their best when playing at pace, counter-attacking and exploiting space, however, they may not be afforded such liberties with Aurelien Tchouameni and Adrien Rabiot providing that extra line of security between defence and attack.
The teams have not met at a major tournament since they drew in the group stage of Euro 2012 but the focus has very much been on the game between two countries that share a sporting rivalry.
Deschamps, who has won the World Cup with France as a player and coach, said he did not see many weaknesses in the England team but observed that they did have some "slightly less strong points".
"Pace is often one of the keys - when you are quick then the opponents have less time to get organised. But you need more than just pace to score goals," said Deschamps.
"You can stop a lot of things but it is very difficult to stop someone very quick, especially in transitions.
"England are very strong in transitions, more than half of their goals have come from quick counter-attacks. But they have other qualities too. They have technical ability, the capacity to score goals and ability on set-pieces."
The spotlight has been on how Mbappe will fare against the England defence, with Kyle Walker saying he would count on his experience of playing him in the past when they square up.
"I'm sure England will have prepared to face him but Kylian is in a position to make a difference," Deschamps said.
"Even in his last match he wasn't at his best, not in top form but still decisive. We have other players that can be dangerous as well."
Southgate, meanwhile, feels England's run to the semi-finals of the last World Cup and subsequent progress to the final of Euro 2020 last summer can only stand them in good stead for Saturday's encounter at the Al Bayt Stadium.
"In terms of our experiences, those big matches are important reference points for the team," said the England boss.
"There have been some defeats that hurt that prepare you for nights like tomorrow where you have to be the very best version of yourself.
"We are ready to fight France for that place in the semi-finals."
Southgate also believes that Walker will be ready to shackle France dangerman Mbappe if required.
"We always wanted to give Kyle the opportunity to be fit as he has been a very important player for us over the last six years," said Southgate.
"Kyle is ready. We are talking about one of the opposition, but France are a fantastic team and we are aware of all of their players.
"Didier [Deschamps] has created a team that is stronger than the individuals, which maybe wasn't always the case and we have to be at our very best to win the game."
The England manager will make a decision on whether to include Raheem Sterling in the side against France.
The 28-year-old Chelsea forward did not feature in last weekend's last-16 win against Senegal because of concerns over his family’s wellbeing following an incident at his home in Surrey.
"He wanted to train today. Normally we wouldn’t do that, with him having been on a long flight, but it was a lighter session," said Southgate. "He will be involved tomorrow, but what that looks like I have got to decide."
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