SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - JUNE 19: Luis Suarez of Uruguay celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Group D match between Uruguay and England at Arena de Sao Paulo on June 19, 2014 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
First-round group play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup is finally over, and the second round will start on Saturday in Russia.
Germany’s fans are still in shock from the defending champions being eliminated by South Korea on Wednesday, the first time ever in the national team’s history. Of the 32 teams that qualified for the World Cup, 16 are still in.
This weekend, four games will be played: two on Saturday and two on Sunday. All games will air on Fox Sports and Telemundo (English and Spanish broadcasts, respectively).
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First on Saturday, Argentina and France will face off at 10am EST. Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, barely made it to the round of 16 after finishing second in its group with four points. (Croatia led that group with nine points). France finished at the top of its group with seven points, but also struggled in its first three games. The French, who won the 1998 World Cup, tied Denmark 0-0 in their last game, while Argentina — who lost to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final — beat Nigeria 2-1.
At 2pm EST, Uruguay and Portugal will play each other. Led by superstars like Luis Suarez, Uruguay won all three of its group-stage games to reach the round 16, and could pose a severe threat to Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal, which only defeated Morocco in the first round.
On Sunday at 10am, Spain and Russia will face off. Spain’s offense has not been as strong as in other tournaments, but the 2010 World Cup champions are still highly projected to defeat Russia in this round, despite the latter country’s home advantage.
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At 2pm, Denmark and Croatia will play. Croatia’s Luka Modric has been particularly impressive, and the team that thrashed Argentina 3-0 in the opening round will surly do fine against the Danes.
The other eight countries who will compete in the round of 16 are Brazil, Mexico, Belgium, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, England and Colombia. Those national teams will next play on Monday or Tuesday.
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