Going into the final day of group play at the World Cup, there are essentially eight teams vying for four spots in the round of 32.
Tournament co-hosts the United States, Canada and Mexico have all advanced, along with France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Norway and others.
The U.S. will face Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California, while Canada heads to Southern California to face South Africa on Sunday. Other marquee matchups
are set, including Morocco versus the Netherlands, Japan versus Brazil and Norway versus Ivory Coast.
Third place in a group is no guarantee of advancing. The eight best third-place teams get in with ties broken by goal differential and goals scored, if necessary.
Teams with four points — a win, a draw and a loss — almost certainly will make the round of 32. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sweden, Ecuador and Paraguay have already advanced that way.
Scotland and its passionate fans are waiting for lots of things to go right to make the knockout stage in a long shot bid with three points.
Here's what to watch Saturday:
Panama vs. England and Croatia vs. Ghana (5 p.m. ET): England and Ghana advance with anything other than blowout losses and could still advance. Croatia gets through with a win or a draw, while Panama has already been eliminated.
Colombia vs. Portugal and Congo vs. Uzbekistan (7:30 p.m. ET): Portugal advances with a draw and finishes first in the group with a win, while Colombia has already advanced and is atop the group by beating or tying Portugal. Congo is in with a win or draw but out with a loss, and Uzbekistan has long odds and likely needs to win in a romp.
Algeria vs. Austria and Jordan vs. Argentina (10 p.m. ET): Barring a multigoal loss by Croatia against Ghana earlier, the winner of Algeria-Austria advances and the loser still has a chance, while a draw would get Austria in and probably Algeria, too. Argentina has won the group, while Jordan has already been eliminated.
Here are the round of 32 matchups already set:
The Americans had their powerful momentum from two consecutive victories stalled in the loss to Turkey. But in the knockout round, they’ll face a Bosnia-Herzegovina that is 62nd in the FIFA rankings — the lowest-ranked World Cup qualifier from Europe. Bosnia finished third in Group B with four points. U.S. star Christian Pulisic entered as a substitute in the second half against Turkey. He had not played since leaving the opening win over Paraguay at halftime with a calf injury. “We play every game like a knockout game,” said U.S. midfielder Sebastian Berhalter, who scored against Turkey. “You saw that in our intensity and the way we worked. For us, it’s keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
These nations have already made history. It’ll be the first time both are in the knockout stage of the World Cup. Canada advanced as runner-up in Group B with four points — one win, one draw and one loss. South Africa was runner-up in Group A, also with four points, including a surprising win over South Korea.
Japan advanced as Group F runner-up with a hard fought 1-1 draw against Sweden and the Samurai Blue’s reward is a knockout match against five-time World Cup champion Brazil. It’ll be a full-circle moment for Japan, which brought in Brazilian great Zico in 1991 to professionalize the country’s new domestic league and support Japan’s successful bid to co-host the World Cup in 2002. Now, the Japanese have a chance to show how far they’ve come against a country that has set the standard.
The Netherlands won Group F after a draw with Japan and outscoring Sweden and Tunisia by a combined 8-2. Morocco went unbeaten to finish second in Group C in pursuit of becoming the first African winner of the World Cup. Morocco reached the semifinals four years ago in Qatar.
France came in as the tournament favorite and remains it after winning all three of its group games to set up a matchup against Sweden, which had a 5-1 win, a 5-1 loss and a draw.
Germany comes into the knockout stage off a similarly low-key late defeat as the U.S., having already clinched its group with little to play for. Germany is a significant favorite against Paraguay, which lost to the U.S. 4-1 in its opener but steadied itself enough to move on.
This may be one of the most evenly matched round of 32 games, after Australia beat Turkey, lost to the U.S and drew with Paraguay. Egypt got through as the second-place team in Group G after a late goal by Iran on Friday night was called back for offside.
Defending champion Argentina faces the smallest country to qualify for the knockout stage at a World Cup. Unsurprisingly, Cape Verde goes in as a massive underdog.
After an opening draw against Morocco, Brazil won its next two by 3-0 scores, with Vinícius Júnior scoring to silence critics and Neymar returning from injury. Japan has a couple of draws and a 4-0 rout of Tunisia to show for itself so far.
It would have taken beating favored France for Norway to win Group I. Instead, coach Ståle Solbakken opted to rest Erling Haaland and all but one starter. That sets up a matchup against the Ivory Coast at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday.
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