54 out of 104 matches of the 23rd FIFA World Cup have been completed. Of the 48 teams, 13 have made it to the knockouts, which will begin on Monday. South Africa and Canada have created history by qualifying for the knockouts for the first time.
Florida (USA): Half of the journey of the 23rd FIFA Football World Cup has been completed. A total of 104 matches are to be held in this tournament, which started on June 11, out of which 54 matches have been played. Now only 50 matches are left in this tournament which will run till July 19. This time a record 48 teams are participating, out of which 32 teams will go to the knockout stage. So far, 13 teams have confirmed their place in the knockout, while 19 teams still have a chance to go to the next round. The group stage matches will end on Sunday morning and the battle for the knockout round will begin from Monday.
Which teams reached the knockouts?
Based on the matches played till Wednesday, a total of 13 teams have made their place in the knockouts. These include Group ‘A’ topper Mexico, Group ‘B’ topper Switzerland, Group ‘C’ topper Brazil, Group ‘D’ topper America, Group ‘E’ topper Germany and Group ‘J’ topper Argentina. Apart from these, France, Norway, Canada, Morocco, Colombia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and South Africa have also qualified for the knockouts.
According to the rules, the top-2 teams of each group and the best-8 teams out of the 12 teams ranked third in the 12 groups will also reach the knockout. At the same time, the teams of Qatar, Czech Republic, Türkiye, Tunisia, Jordan, Panama and Haiti are out of the race for the knockout.
South Africa created history by reaching knockout for the first time
The South African team has made it to the knockout stage for the first time in the history of the FIFA World Cup. South Africa defeated South Korea 1-0 in a match held on Wednesday night. Thepelo Maseko scored a goal in the 63rd minute of the match to give his team a historic victory. With this win, the team reached the last-32 by finishing second in ‘A’ group with 4 points. Earlier, South Africa had played the World Cup in 1998, 2002 and 2010, but was out of the group stage every time.
Switzerland becomes number 1 in the group after defeating Canada 2-1
Vancouver: In their last match of the group stage against hosts Canada, Switzerland won 2–1. With this victory, the Swiss team reached the knockouts by topping the ‘B’ group. The team scored a total of 7 points from 3 matches with 2 wins and 1 draw. At the same time, despite losing this match, Canada reached the knockout by finishing second in the group with 4 points. Canada has also achieved the feat of qualifying for the World Cup knockout for the first time.