News, goals, and analysis – only on the official A BOLA app. Mathematically, 19 teams have already qualified for the Round of 16 of the World Cup: Mexico and South Africa (Group A), Switzerland, Canada, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Group B), Brazil and Morocco (Group C), the United States and Australia (Group D), Germany, Ivory Coast, and Ecuador (Group E), Netherlands, Japan, and Sweden (Group F), France and Norway (Group I), Argentina (Group J), and Colombia (Group K). Of these 19, 14 already know where they will play the next knockout round, which has allowed us to determine the first match of these Round of 16: South Africa vs. Canada, at 8 PM next Sunday. Only Bosnia and Sweden, due to the crossovers of the third-placed teams, and France, Norway, and Colombia, who are already in the next phase but do not yet know their final position in their respective groups, do not have a date and time for the next knockout round. However, while there are mathematically 19 qualified teams, virtually there are already 20. This is because it is almost impossible for a team with 4 points not to advance, at least as one of the eight best third-placed teams. Three of them, Bosnia, Sweden, and Ecuador, have already done so mathematically. Even with a negative goal difference in the first case (-1 between goals scored and conceded) and neutral (0) in the second and third, they already know that there will be enough teams performing worse. This is because there are already four teams that will not surpass three points (South Korea and Scotland, who have already finished their groups; and Senegal or Iraq, who have zero points and face each other in the last round) and two more groups where the third-placed team will, at best, finish with four points and a goal difference of -2 — Group D (Paraguay, currently the fourth best third-placed team) and Group J. This also means that even if Portugal were to lose by six goals to Colombia, after the 5-0 win against Uzbekistan, they would be mathematically qualified. Losing by 7, in the worst-case scenario, would lead to a tiebreaker with other third-placed teams based on goals scored, and there Portugal would also be fine. But in reality, four points are enough, regardless of the result. For a team to finish with four points and be eliminated, no other third-placed team can accumulate just three points, besides the three already mentioned (South Korea, Scotland, and Senegal/Iraq). To reach that point, all these results must happen; just one failure and there will be another third team with three points: Ecuador must defeat Germany (done!) Sweden cannot lose to Japan (done!) Paraguay and Australia, who face each other, must draw (done!) There cannot be a draw in Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia Uruguay must defeat Spain There cannot be a draw in New Zealand vs. Belgium Iran must defeat Egypt Croatia cannot lose to Ghana Austria and Algeria, who face each other, must draw The DR Congo must win against Uzbekistan As soon as one of these scenarios does not occur, Portugal and the other teams already with four points that are not yet formally qualified — Egypt, Spain, England, and Ghana — will be mathematically in the Round of 16. As for eliminated teams, Czech Republic, Qatar, Haiti, Turkey, and Tunisia, who have already completed their participation, and Jordan and Panama, who still have one game to play, already know they will be going home early. South Korea and Scotland are waiting for the results of the other groups to see if, with three points, they can enter the group of the eight best third-placed teams.
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