The World Cup group stage is not yet complete, but the knockout phase is already taking shape. Nations will be turning one eye to last-32 pairings and plotting possible pathways to the tournament’s latter stages.The expanded 48-team format creates complications; eight of the 12 group third-place finishers will advance to the knockouts. Each of these sides will face a group winner, but four additional group winners will play a group runner-up.Those groups have already been locked into the draw — Group C (which includes Brazil and Morocco) is paired with Group F (where the Netherlands and Japan are the top two with one game left), while the other pairing is between Group H and Group J.
Check out The Athletic’s interactive forecast for the round-of-32 bracket
Spain will confirm their status as Group H winners if they defeat Uruguay on Friday, with a draw almost certainly being enough (Cape Verde would have to defeat Saudi Arabia by at least four goals to overtake them in this scenario).Defending champions Argentina have already secured top spot in Group J and will face the Group H runners-up. Jordan have been eliminated from Group J and will finish fourth, with Austria and Algeria level on three points each.Austria will play Algeria in their final Group J game on Saturday in Kansas City. Austria hold a superior goal difference, so a draw or a win would clinch second spot for Ralf Rangnick’s side, while Algeria need to win to advance in second.However, this raises one question: would finishing third in these groups (with a points tally and goal difference sufficient to advance) hand those nations a more favourable draw?
