FIFA World Cup 2022: 12 teams qualify for knockouts, 8 contest for rest 4 seats

Eight teams – South Korea, Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, Cameroon, Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland – will play their last match in their respective groups on Friday. Among this, only Brazil and Portugal are seen to have qualified for the knockouts, while the rest will have to make their position secure in the Group G and H.

Other teams which have qualified for the knockout include – Netherlands, USA, Argentina, Australia, Japan, Croatia, France, Poland, England, Senegal, Morocco, and Spain.

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Earlier on Thursday, despite winning against Costa Rica, four-time World Cup winners Germany could not make it to the last 16. While even after losing to Japan, Spain managed to enter the Knockouts. This was Germany’s second successive first-round exit from the World Cup which forward Thomas Mueller called it as an “absolute catastrophe”.

Looking at the points table, England, Netherlands, and Morocco have the highest points – 7, while Senegal, Argentina, France, Japan, Brazil, Australia and Portugal have 6 points each. USA and Croatia have 5 points each. While Spain and Poland have 4 points each, but managed to reach knockouts based on goal difference.

On Friday, South Korea will face Portugal, Ghana will play against Uruguay, Cameroon will contest for seat against Brazil, and Serbia will lock horns with Switzerland.

The first knockout will be played between Netherlands and USA on 3 December at Khalifa International stadium at 8:30 pm IST. While Argentina will lock horns with Australia to qualify for quarter-finals in the Ahmad Bin Ali stadium at 12:30 am (4 December, IST)