The group stage has officially ended. Both Portugal and Brazil lose, but top their group, South Korea and Switzerland celebrate! Let’s see what happened today at the World Cup!
Group H
Results
| Kim Young-Gwon 27′ Hwang Hee-Chan 90′ | R. Horta 5′ |
Subs
South Korea: Hwang Hee-Chan 66′, Son Jun-Ho 81′, Hwang Ui-Jo 81′, Cho Yu-Min 90′
Portugal: Andre Silva 65′, R. Leao 65′, J. Palhinha 65′, W. Carvalho 82′, Bernardo Silva 82′
Portugal were already qualified to the next round and from first place as well, so Fernando Santos had the luxury to rest quite a few players. Still, the Portuguese opened the scoring in the 5th minute and things were looking on the up for the teams in the other match. South Korea never gave up though and managed to turn the match around! They had an xG of 1.79 from 13 shots, compared to 1.23 of Portugal from the same amount of shots, so they created better chances throughout the match. By winning the game they managed to qualify to the next round!
| G. de Arrascaeta 26′, 32′ |
Subs
Ghana: O. Bukari 46′, K. Sulemana 46′, A. Semenyo 72′, D. Kyereh 72′, I. Fatawu 90′
Uruguay: M. Vecino 34′, E. Cavani 66′, N. de la Cruz 66′, M. Gomez 80′, A. Canobbio 80′
Ghana missed a crucial penalty versus Uruguay at the World Cup! No, we didn’t turn the clocks back to 2010, it happened again. Andre Ayew missed a pen at 0-0, which allowed Uruguay to strike decisively twice, thanks to Flamengo’s 28 years old attacking mid, de Arrascaeta. Still, it wasn’t enough for the South Americans. South Korea scored more goals, so the Asian went through. Uruguay had an xG of 1.8, if they had something similar in the previous 2 games, they would have surely gone through.
Standings
| # | Team | Played | Win | Draw | Lose | Goals | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Portugal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 : 4 | 6 |
| 2 |  | South Korea | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 : 4 | 4 |
| 3 |  | Uruguay | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 : 2 | 4 |
| 4 |  | Ghana | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 : 7 | 3 |
Both South Korea and Uruguay finished on 4 points, with the same goal difference as well, however South Korea scored more goals, 4 compared to Uruguay’s 2. Portugal to face the second placed team from Group F, while South Korea will face Brazil.
Group G
Results
| V. Aboubakar 90′ |
Subs
Cameroon: K. Toko Ekambi 64′, O. Ntcham 68′, J. Ngom Mbekeli 86′
Brazil: Everton Ribeiro 55′, Marquinhos 55′, Bruno Guimaraes 55′, Pedro 64′, Raphinha 79′
Similar to Portugal, Brazil had the top spot of the group almost secured, so Titi used some of the players who were not given a lot of chances so far. It was a relatively even match, with Brazil being the more dangerous side, having 21 shots and an xG of 2.25(Cameroon had 0.46), but it was Cameroon who managed to score. Aboubakar scored in injury time, only to be sent off 1 minute later, for getting a second yellow.
| A. Mitrovic 26′ D. Vlahovic 35′ | X. Shaqiri 20′ B. Embolo 44′ R. Freuler 48′ |
Subs
Serbia: N. Gudelj 55′, L. Jovic 55′, N. Maksimovic 68′, F. Djuricic 78′, N. Radonjic 78′
Switzerland: E. Fernandes 68′, D. Zakaria 69′, C. Fassnacht 83′, N. Okafor 90′
Absolute banger of a match from Switzerland and Serbia! Switzerland opened the scoring, only for Serbia to make it 2-1, then Switzerland equalizing almost instantly and adding another one after the break. Serbia didn’t have what it takes to get back into the game, so the match ended with the score from the 48th minute. Switzerland were the marginally better side, so they deserve the win and deserve to go through.
Standings
| # | Team | Played | Win | Draw | Lose | Goals | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Brazil | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 : 1 | 6 |
| 2 |  | Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 : 3 | 6 |
| 3 |  | Cameroon | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 : 4 | 4 |
| 4 |  | Serbia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 : 8 | 1 |
Brazil top the group, but only thanks to their superior goal difference. If either Cameroon or Switzerland would have scored another goal, the Swiss would have won the group. Brazil to face South Korea, Switzerland to face Portugal in an all-European encounter.