The Group Stage of the 2018 World Cup is over, giving us 6 former World Cups in the round of 16: France, Argentina (who will face each other), Uruguay (playing Portugal), Spain (facing Russia), Brazil (playing against Mexico) and England, who’ll face Colombia. Croatia, Belgium and Uruguay finish the group stage with a perfect 9-for-9 records. Uruguay also didn’t concede a single goal. Russia, the hosts, are in the round of 16 for the first time since the USSR broke up.
Round of 16 Matches:
France (Group C Winner) vs Argentina (2nd in Group D): Kazan, June 30
Uruguay (Group A Winner) vs Portugal (2nd in Group B): Sochi, June 30
Spain (Group B Winner) vs Russia (2nd in Group A): Moscow, July 1
Croatia (Group D Winner) vs Denmark (2nd in Group C): Nizhny Novgorod, July 1
Brazil (Group E Winner) vs Mexico (2nd in Group F): Samara, July 2
Belgium (Group G Winner) vs Japan (2nd in Group H): Rostov, July 2
Sweden (Group F Winner) vs Switzerland (2nd in Group E): Saint Petersburg, July 3
Colombia (Group H Winner) vs England (2nd in Group G): Moscow, July 3
Group G Final Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belgium | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 9 | |
| 2 | England | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 6 | |
| 3 | Tunisia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 3 | |
| 4 | Panama | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | −9 | 0 |
Belgium finish first with 9 points after a 1-0 win over England, in a match some say both teams didn’t want to win. In any case, this was one of the two groups which already had its two qualifiers heading into the final day.
Group H Final Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 | |
| 2 | Japan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
| 3 | Senegal | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Poland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 3 |
Colombia go through thanks to their two wins over Poland and Senegal, showing that in 11 men, they’re a force to be reckoned with. Japan? They go through for the third time in their World Cup history thanks to having less yellow cards than Senegal.
Group A Final Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uruguay | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 9 | |
| 2 | Russia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 6 | |
| 3 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 3 | |
| 4 | Egypt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 | −4 | 0 |
While Russia cruised through their first two matches, playing against a full-strength Uruguay team (more or less) proved too difficult. Uruguay are one of the few to finish the first 3 matches with 9 points, on top of that yet to concede a goal.
Group B Final Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 5 | |
| 2 | Portugal | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 | |
| 3 | Iran | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | Morocco | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 1 |
Spain finish first due to one more goal than Portugal. Both teams failed to win more than once or impress for more than short stretches, but do just about enough to qualify and leave Iran and Morocco pondering on what could have been had their finishing been slightly more efficient.
Group C Final Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 7 | |
| 2 | Denmark | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 5 | |
| 3 | Peru | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Australia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 1 |
One might say that Peru played better than anyone else in this group, but not being able to score against France or Denmark sealed their fate. The Danes hardly impressed, but were clinicial in short moments, which tends to be enough in big tournaments. France looked better against Peru than against Australia, yet don’t go into the round of 16 with a formidable resume of results thus far.
Group D Final Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Croatia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 9 | |
| 2 | Argentina | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | −2 | 4 | |
| 3 | Nigeria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Iceland | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 1 |
Croatia put together a terrific, perfect campaign, including their 3-0 thrashing of Argentina. And Argentina? One late Marcos Rojo goal put them through, despite scoring just 3 goals in 3 matches and finishing with a -2 goal difference.
Group E Final Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 | |
| 2 | Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 5 | |
| 3 | Serbia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Costa Rica | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 1 |
After a draw between them in the first match, both Brazil and Switzerland looked better later on – Brazil with a couple of 2-0 wins and the Swiss with their dramatic comeback victory over Serbia, making the Costa Rica draw less important or something to worry about.
Group F Final Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sweden | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 6 | |
| 2 | Mexico | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 6 | |
| 3 | South Korea | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Germany | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 3 |
Sweden beat South Korea and Mexico, Mexico beat South Korea and Germany, South Korea beat Germany. And the defending world champions? They mustered just one 95th minute victory while finishing goalless in losses to both Mexico and South Korea, crashing out in somewhat embarrassing fashion.
Top Scorers
5 goals: Harry Kane (England)
4 goals: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium)
3 goals: Denis Cheryshev (Russia), Diego Costa (Spain)
2 goals: Artem Dzyuba (Russia), Mile Jedinak (Australia), Luka Modric (Croatia), Philippe Coutinho (Brazil), Ahmed Musa (Nigeria), Eden Hazard (Belgium), John Stones (England), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Mohamed Salah (Egypt), Son Heung-Min (South Korea), Andreas Granqvist (Sweden), Yerry Mina (Colombia), Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia)
1 goal: Yuri Gazinsky, Aleksandr Golovin (Russia), Jose Maria Gimenez, Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Nacho, Isco, Iago Aspas (Spain), Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe (France), Sergio Agüero, Lionel Messi, Marcos Rojo (Argentina), Alfred Finnbogason (Iceland), Christian Eriksen,Yussuf Poulsen (Denmark), Aleksandar Kolarov, Aleksandar Mitrovic (Serbia), Hirving Lozano, Carlos Vela, Chicharito (México), Neymar, Paulinho, Thiago Silva (Brazil), Steven Zuber, Granit Xhaka, Xherdan Shaqiri, Blerim Dzemaili, Josip Drmic (Switzerland), Ola Toivonen, Ludwig Augustinsson (Sweden), Dries Mertens, Michy Batshuayi, Adnan Januzaj (Belgium), Ferjani Sassi, Dylan Bronn, Fakhreddine Ben Youssef(Tunisia), Shinji Kagawa, Yuya Osaka, Takashi Inui, Keisuke Honda (Japan), Juan Quintero, Radamel Falcao, Juan Cuadrado (Colombia), M’Baye Niang, Sadio Mane, Moussa Wague (Senegal), Grzegorz Krychowiak, Jan Bednarek (Poland), Ante Rebic, Ivan Rakitic (Croatia), Kim Young-Gwon (South Korea), Marco Reus (Germany), Jesse Lingard (England), Felipe Baloy (Panama), Salman Al Faraj, Salem Al Dawsari (Saudi Arabia), Ricardo Quaresma (Portugal), Khalid Boutaib, Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco), Karim Ansarifard (Irán), Andre Carrillo, Paolo Guerrero (Peru), Victor Moses (Nigeria), Kendall Watson (Costa Rica)