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16 teams remain 🌟⚽️🏟️🏆

We've made it past the first stage of the World Cup. There have been many great matches so far and still more to come. Say goodbye to the group stage and prepare yourselves for the knockout stage where any loss will result in elimination. This means that instead of a draw, matches will play for 30 extra minutes. If it's still tied after that, there will be a penalty shootout.

Here are some interesting stats from the group stage:

Although there were zero teams that won all three of their group stage matches, there were a handful of teams that did not suffer a loss. USA was the only team to have clean sheets for all of their group matches. England and Spain were the highest-scoring teams.

The 16 teams that made it through the knockout stage were paired up against their next opponents. Every single matchup is one that has a chance of being a tight game. There is also the chance that any team left could go on a tear and blow out their opposing country. If we've learned anything so far in this World Cup, literally anything can happen.

You can see the rankings of the remaining teams and the odds for potential World Cup winners and Golden Boot recipients:

The bracket that remains for the knockout stage is one that will surely result in many more surprises at this tournament. Brazil, Argentina, France, and Portugal are the teams I'd most like to see win this World Cup. A Brazil vs Argentina semi-final is a possibility. The fact of the matter is, any one of these countries could potentially be our next champions. Of course, we will not find out who the winner is until the final match on Sunday, December 18th.