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Alex Mott·3 December 2022
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Alex Mott·3 December 2022
Day 13 saw the group stages completed with more drama than you could shake a stick at.
We look back on the best of what happened and what lies ahead as the second round gets underway.
As the clock struck 90 minutes of South Koreaâs clash with Portugal, they were going home.
Uruguay meanwhile stood on the precipice of the last 16 as they were beating Ghana 2-0.
And the Heung-min Son decided to cement his God-like status back home.
The Tottenham winger broke from a Portugal corner, carried the ball to the edge of their area, and then played the most audacious assist into the path of Hwang Hee-chan, who finished with aplomb.
It was a sensational moment and really epitomised just how brilliant all of these final group matches have been.
Luis SuĂĄrez was happy to play the villain against Ghana until that blew up in his face.
SuĂĄrezâs handball in their World Cup quarter-final back in 2010 has seen the former Barcelona man become a symbol of hate in the west African country.
And despite them failing to get revenge on Friday, Ghana were joyous as Uruguay â with SuĂĄrez crying on the bench â went home.
There was more joy later on on Friday as Cameroonâs Vincent Aboubakar scored the winner against Brazil, took his shirt off, and was then sent off for a second bookable offence.
Not that he seemed to mind though.
If youâve been religiously watching this World Cup, youâll have seen for yourself just how open this tournament seems to be.
No one nation has truly inspired 100 per cent confidence and that was backed up on Friday as Brazil lost to Cameroon to ensure that no side won all three of their group games for the first time since USA 94.
Back to our man Aboubakar, who joins a very illustrious World Cup club.
The Cameroon forward is the first man since Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 final, to score and be sent off in the same game.
The one game we havenât mentioned yet from Friday is Switzerlandâs 3-2 win over Serbia.
It was feisty, it was ferocious, it was fearsome at times.
But the Swiss held out for a famous win which takes them into the last 16 of a major tournament once again.
Letâs just relive one last time, shall we?
Drink it in. Savour it.
Because it really is a glorious thing to look at.
The last 16 starts today with two intriguing encounters that could, with the right wind, cause a few major World Cup shocks.
First up the Netherlands take on USA in what could, in retrospect, turn out to be one of the defining moments of soccer in America.
Gregg Berhalterâs side must surely fancy their chances against the Dutch, who looked fairly uninspiring in Group A.
The Aussies have looked solid and tough to break down in the tournament so far, with Denmark feeling the full force of their rearguard action last time out.
This one wonât be pretty and if Australia can get to the final quarter of the game still goalless, who knows what might happen.
Cody Gakpo has arguably been the breakout star of this tournament so far with the Netherlands forward scoring three from three in the group stages.
The PSV striker will almost certainly be leading the line against the USA later on and could well fire his team into a quarter-final place.