The World Cup 2018 quarter-finals get underway on Friday, and while it is a knock-out stage like any other, for some players a place in the semifinals might be taken away despite the team progressing through.

Yellow cards are only wiped out after the last-eight, and that means any player who gets booked for a second yellow in the tournament, will be ruled out of the semis clash.

All eight teams have at least one player who is on the verge of missing the last-four encounter.

France, who will face Uruguay, have four players on a booking – Manchester United star Paul Pogba, right-back Benjamin Pavard, forward Olivier Giroud and Corentin Tolisso. While Oscar Tabarez’s team have only Rodrigo Bentacur to worry about.

Tite’s Brazil, who will be up against Belgium, have a few notable names that could face the consequences – Neymar, Philippe Coutinho and Felipe Luis. Roberto Martinez’s team on the other hand have – Kevin de Bruyne, Thomas Meunier and Jan Vertonghen among their five players on a yellow.

Gareth Southgate’s England side have four stars on a yellow card – Jesse Lingard, Jordan Henderson, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kyle Walker. While Sweden have Viktor Claesson and Albin Ekdal, who could be ruled out of a potential semi-final.

Meanwhile, the fourth last-eight encounter has the most number of players living dangerously – as eight Croatia stars and five Russia players are on a booking. Croatia risk losing – Mario Mandzukic, Ivan Rakitic, Ante Rebic and Sime Vrsaljko if they do qualify for the next stage. And Russia could be without the services of Aleksandr Golovin and Ilya Kutepov.

Also, if a player receives a red card in the quarter-finals, he will not be able to feature in the semi-finals.

Brazil’s defending midfielder Casemiro will be missing out due to suspension, while Sweden’s Mikael Lustig will also not feature against England.