The first knockout games are in the bag, and another 16 teams have exited the World Cup.
In some respects, a lot of things haven’t changed. Germany and the Netherlands are the biggest names knocked out, but even if they played well at times in the group phase, neither side looked like a genuine contender.
Similarly, England, Portugal and Brazil all had strong moments, but also displayed their flaws in getting past DR Congo, Croatia and Japan. The co-hosts — the U.S., Canada and Mexico — are significant long shots to go all the way, but they made it through with varying degrees of comfort.
Argentina are perhaps the team who raised the loudest questions about their prospects while still actually progressing.
By far and away the best teams in the round, as was probably the case in the groups, were France and Spain.
@NickMiller79
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