We are down to the final day of the marathon 72-game World Cup group stage.The penultimate day did not offer too many surprises on the pitch, but there was one powerful story at its heart: Cape Verde qualified from Group H after having the better of a 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia.A collection of 10 islands off the west coast of Africa, with a population of about 525,000, is now the smallest nation to reach a World Cup knockout stage.The big star on Friday was France forward Ousmane Dembele, banging in a hat-trick against Norway in Boston and reminding the world what he can do, although it was a shame not to see Erling Haaland.Kevin De Bruyne rolled back the years to send Belgium into the knockouts and the prospect of a potential Iran-United States meeting in the last 16 was ended. Iran is now at risk of exiting the World Cup after a late and marginal VAR call denied it a winning goal.Based on projections Iran is still fancied to progress but if Algeria and Austria draws in group J, a result that sends both through, DR Congo beats Uzbekistan and Croatia gets at least a point against Ghana, then Iran is out. You can examine the possibilities here.Another big story came away from the pitch — around the U.S. and its impressive coach, Mauricio Pochettino.Let’s dive in.Day 16 results