The FIFA World Cup in Qatar is an important sporting event that has been going on for the last couple of weeks. Football fans around the world have the opportunity to root for their country; however, as we move farther along into the tournament, the competition is getting tougher. We will go over the exciting movement of the brackets and the standings of the tournament right now.

All World Cups have four different stages leading up to the final game. The first stage known as the group stage contains every team that qualified to be in the World Cup which included 32 countries from around the world. Each team plays a guaranteed three games, and this is where their evaluation starts. There are four teams in each group, and they receive points based on the results of their games. A win equals three points, a draw equals one point, and a loss equals zero points. At the end of the three games, the two teams with the highest points will move on to the next round known as the “Round of 16.”

The Round of 16 in this year’s World Cup was very exciting and filled with many unexpected outcomes. The teams that made this year’s Round of 16 are the Netherlands, USA, Argentina, Australia, England, Senegal, France, Poland, Japan, Croatia, Brazil, South Korea, Portugal, Switzerland, Morocco, and Spain. As of now, we have just now finished up this section of the tournament. Half of the teams listed have packed their bags and said goodbye to their World Cup champion dreams.

We have now moved onto the third to last stage of the tournament which are the Quarter Finals. The countries that were able to power through the Round of 16 and continue are Croatia, Brazil, Netherlands, Argentina, England, France, Morocco, and Portugal. This list is filled with exciting teams that were expected to go on far, but it also includes some teams that were seen as the underdogs, such as Netherlands and Morocco. In fact, this is the first time Morocco has made it this far in the tournament in the entire history of the World Cup!

The Quarter Final section is just getting started with the first games being played on Friday, Dec. 9 and the final two games on Saturday, Dec. 10. From these outcomes, we will see who gets to move onto the semi-final and who can keep the dreams of a World Cup championship alive. The games will only increase in excitement and importance from here, so make sure to tune in. What are your thoughts and predictions on this exhilarating tournament?