World Cup Group Scenarios: What does each team need to advance?

Martin Rogers

FOX Sports Insider

AL KHOR, Qatar — We are edging closer to the end of the group stage, which wraps Tuesday. So which teams are in position to advance, and what needs to happen for them to get there?

Here are the group-by-group scenarios for each team in the tournament.

GROUP A

The Netherlands won Group A with a win over Qatar. The team will face USA (runners-up in Group B) in the Round of 16 at 10 a.m. ET Saturday on FOX.
Senegal finished as the runner-up in Group A with a win over Ecuador. The team will face England (winners in Group B) in the Round of 16 at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1.
Ecuador was eliminated with a loss on Tuesday. Qatar was eliminated in its second group stage match.

GROUP B

England won Group B with its win against Wales. The team will face Senegal (runners-up in Group A) in the Round of 16 at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on FS1.
USA finished as the runner-up in Group B with a win over Iran. The team will face the Netherlands (Group A winners) in the Round of 16 at 10 a.m. ET Saturday on FOX.
Iran was eliminated with its loss to the USA, and finished in 3rd place in Group B.
Wales was eliminated with its loss against England, and finished in 4th place in Group B.

GROUP C

Argentina bounced back to win Group C with its win against Poland. The team will face Australia (runners-up in Group D) in the Round of 16 at 2 p.m. ET Saturday on FOX.
Poland finished second in Group C by winning the goal-differential tiebreaker over Mexico and advanced to the Round of 16 for the first time since 1986. The team will face France (Group D winners) in the Round of 16 at 10 a.m. ET Sunday on FOX.
Mexico, despite its win against Saudi Arabia, finished third in Group C and failed to advance out of the Group Stage for the first time since 1978.
With its loss against Mexico, Saudi Arabia finished fourth in Group C and was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup.

GROUP D

France finished atop Group D by winning the goal-differential tiebreaker over Australia despite a loss to Tunisia. The team will face Poland (runners-up in Group C) in the Round of 16 at 10 a.m. ET Sunday on FOX.
Australia finished as runners-up in Group D with its win against Denmark, and advanced to the knockout round for the first time since 2006. The team will take on Argentina (Group C winners) in the Round of 16 at 2 p.m. ET Saturday on FOX.
Despite its win against France, Tunisia finished in third place in Group D and was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup.
With its loss against Australia, Denmark finished in fourth place in Group D and was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup.

GROUP E

With its win over Spain, Japan won Group E and advanced to the Round of 16. It will face Croatia (Group F runner-up) in the Round of 16 at 10 a.m. ET on Monday.
Despite its loss against Japan, Spain finished second in Group E and advanced to the Round of 16 via the goal-differential tiebreaker. It will face Morocco (Group F winners) in the Round of 16 at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
Despite its win against Costa Rica, Germany finished third in Group E due to Spain having a better goal differential. This marks the first time in national team history that Germany has been eliminated from consecutive men’s World Cups in the group stage.
With its loss to Germany, Costa Rica finished fourth in Group E and was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup.

GROUP F

With its win against Canada, Morocco won Group F and advanced to the Round of 16 for the first time since 1986.
With its draw against Belgium, Croatia finished second in Group F and advanced to the Round of 16.
With its draw against Croatia, Belgium finished third in Group F and was eliminated from the FIFA World Cup.
Canada was already eliminated entering today. With its loss against Morocco, Canada is still winless all-time at the men’s FIFA World Cup (six losses in six men’s World Cup matches in its history)

GROUP G

Brazil has qualified and would be guaranteed to top the group with a win or tie against Cameroon, or if Switzerland does not beat Serbia. If Brazil loses and Switzerland wins, the group winner will be decided by goal difference and subsequent tie breakers if necessary.
Switzerland would qualify with a win against Serbia. It would also qualify with a tie, unless Cameroon beats Brazil and wins a second-place tiebreaker. If the Swiss drew and Cameroon won, then the two countries would each have four points and ensuing tiebreakers would be implemented. Switzerland cannot qualify with a loss.
Serbia qualifies with a win against Switzerland, if Cameroon fails to beat Brazil. If Serbia and Cameroon both win, then Serbia would need to win by a greater margin to catch up on goal differential.
Cameroon is eliminated if Switzerland beats Serbia. It can qualify with a win against Brazil if Switzerland/Serbia is a tie or if Serbia wins, but only if it wins a tiebreaker.

GROUP H

Portugal has qualified and would be guaranteed to top the group with a win or tie against South Korea, or if Ghana does not beat Uruguay. If Portugal loses and Ghana wins, the group winner would be decided on goal difference and subsequent tiebreakers.
Ghana would qualify with a win against Uruguay. It would also qualify with a tie, unless South Korea beats Portugal and wins a second-place tiebreaker. South Korea would need to beat Portgual by two or more goals for this to happen. Ghana cannot qualify with a loss.
Uruguay qualifies with a win against Ghana, and takes the runners-up spot if South Korea loses or draws. If both Uruguay and South Korea win, then both teams would be tied with four points behind Portugal. At that point, tiebreakers would be implemented.
South Korea is eliminated if Ghana beats Uruguay. It can qualify with a win against Portugal if Ghana/Uruguay is a tie or if Uruguay wins, but only if it wins a tiebreaker.

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Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.