Forty-eight teams started out in this World Cup and now we are down to the final eight.They could have faced Colombia in the next round, a repeat of the 2024 Copa America final, but Switzerland prevailed instead on penalties. This means six of the eight remaining teams are from Europe. Four mouth-watering ties await.So how do the remaining contenders stack up? Here’s a look at our latest rankings.Having dismantled four opponents in a row, France were largely nullified in the last 16 by a stubborn Paraguay side, but still made it through with a 1-0 win.Paraguay showed that with unscrupulous methods, France can be got at, and you wonder if better opponents (i.e. Morocco in the quarter-finals) will take note and attempt to rile Didier Deschamps’ side.However, France remain clear favourites to win the tournament given the ridiculous attacking talent they possess. Kylian Mbappe is hot on the heels of Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot with seven goals, while creator-in-chief Michael Olise is top of the assists chart with five.They deservedly remain top of our rankings — and The Athletic’s live projection tool forecasts a 28 per cent chance of them winning the World Cup.Another clean sheet and another win after defeating Portugal thanks to Mikel Merino’s 91st-minute winner.Once more, they limited their opposition to relatively few chances. The curious thing about Spain in this tournament is that their star player, Lamine Yamal, has not hit the heights we know he can yet (one goal, no assists).But Ferran Torres combined with fellow substitute Merino for the winning goal against Portugal, showing the strength in depth of a team that would become even more dangerous if Yamal steps it up a notch. They face Belgium next in the quarter-finals on Friday.After a smooth-sailing group stage, Argentina’s knockout games have been back-and-forth humdingers against both Cape Verde and now Egypt.The Cape Verde game showed something we had seen from them during their run to the trophy four years ago, when they could be susceptible to giving up leads, as they did against the Netherlands and France.But against Egypt, they produced a turnaround victory from 2-0 down, scoring three goals in 13 minutes when it seemed they were heading out. It is a concern that Argentina have laboured this much against teams they were heavy favourites to beat, but then it is also impressive that they have demonstrated the strength of character and will to win to get over the line.The question now is how much have those two matches taken out of them? They face Switzerland next, who have shown they aren’t easy to beat either. The fact they have avoided one of the more fancied teams in the quarter-finals keeps them above England in these rankings for now.