By: Minna Ibrahim.
Credits to: www.indiatoday.in
After 2 weeks of games in the group stage in the world cup, the group stage is finally terminated. In Qatar World Cup 2022, that is held between November 20 till the 18th of December, a bulk of surprises took place, and after seeing a lot of surprises in the group stage, Football Fans are all eyes on the round of 16 that contains a lot of sturdy games.
As follow the qualified teams in each group and the teams that left the tournament early:
In Group A:
The hosts -Qatar Team- continued their weak performance and lost in the 3 matches in the group stage to bid farewell to the tournament early besides the Ecuador team that ended with only four points.
On the other side, the Netherlands team with a good performance was able to secure 7 points after 2 wins and one tie to lead the standings of the group. Furthermore, the Senegal team also qualified to the next round after 2 wins and one loss.
In Group B:
With a deserved qualification, England qualified to the 2nd round leading the standings of its group with 7 points after 2 wins against Iran and Wales, and one tie against the USA that also qualified to the round of 16 after securing 5 points.
However, Iran and Wales left the tournament after a weak performance from them.
In Group C:
Despite the Saudi Arabia team starting the tournament with a big game against Argentina, this great beginning didn’t pay off. In their second match against Poland, although their performance was better than Poland, that wasn’t enough to win.
With a hope to win Mexico in the third round and qualify, Mexico was able to destroy their hope and lead them to leave the World Cup with them.
Consequently, Argentina and Poland qualified to the second round with 6 and 4 points respectively.
In Group D:
France was able to secure its qualification to the 2nd round in their 2nd game Denmark to be the first team to be qualified to the 2nd round.
Two wins were enough for them to be the first qualified team. With 6 points as France, Australia secured their qualification after 2 wins and one loss.
However, despite Tunisia being able to equalize against Denmark and to win a historical win against the reigning World Champions, Tunisia left the tournament with 4 points after losing from Australia 1-0. Besides, Denmark also bid farewell to the tournament after 2 losses and one tie.
In Group E:
Group E results were full of surprises. After Japan’s great win against Germany and Spain, Japan leads its group and qualifies to the round of 16 beside Spain that is in second place.
Spain secured her qualification by goal difference, since Spain and Germany both ended the group stage with four points but the goal difference was at Spain’s side, which led to Germany’s early bid farewell beside Costa Rica.
In Group F:
With a strong performance, Morocco's team deserved the qualification to the round of 16. After a great performance from the team specifically Hakimi, Ziyech, Saiss, Aguerd and Bono, Atlas Lions won Belgium and Canada and equalized with Croatia to qualify with it with 7 and 5 points respectively.
However, the 2nd ranked team over the world, Belgium team, despite having a strong team, Roberto Martinez their coach wasn’t able to show the performance that befits the team’s position in the FIFA rankings and the ability of the players in the team. Consequently, Belgium left the World Cup early with the Canadian team that wasn’t present in the tournament.
In group G:
Brazil and Switzerland were qualified as the first team in the standings and the 2nd respectively as both secured 6 points after 2 wins and one loss. Brazil's loss was against Cameroon whereas Switzerland's win was against Brazil. However, their ranking differs by goal difference between them.
On the other side, Cameroon and Serbia left the tournament with 4 points and 1 point respectively.
In Group F:
Portugal followed France and Brazil’s steps in qualifying and qualified to the 2nd round after winning in 2 games against Uruguay and Ghana. Besides, in a surprise for Football Fans, Son and his friends led South Korea to qualify to the round of 16 after winning against Portugal to differ from Uruguay that have the same number of points (4 points) by goal difference.
Consequently, Suarez team bid farewell to the tournament in an unexpected surprise beside the Ghana team.
The Round Of 16:
Following FIFA World Cup rules, in the round of 16, the winner of each group will face the runner-up of the next group and vice versa. Thus, the games come as follows:
Credits to: www.sportingnews.com
(Note: All the timings below are according to GMT +03:00 time).
Saturday, December 3rd:
Netherlands vs USA - Kick-off 6pm
Argentina vs Australia - Kick-off 10pm
Sunday, December 4th:
France vs Poland - Kick-off 6pm
England vs Senegal - Kick-off 10pm
Monday, December 5th:
Japan vs Croatia - Kick-off 6pm
Brazil vs South Korea - Kick-off 10pm
Tuesday, December 6th:
Morocco vs Spain - Kick-off 6pm
Portugal vs Switzerland- Kick-off 10pm.
And don’t forget to add the fixtures to your google calendar so you’ll stay updated by clicking this link.
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