📸 Picture perfect: The story of matchday 14 at the World Cup | OneFootball

The first knockout games took place as the Netherlands and Argentina booked their place in the quarter-finals.

Here is the story of today at the World Cup.

The Netherlands went into their clash with the USA as firm favourites to progress, and within 10 minutes of their clash they were ahead thanks to Memphis’ Depay’s first goal of the tournament.

Daley Blind doubled the Dutch advantage in first-half stoppage time and shared an emotional moment with his father, former Netherlands player Danny Blind.

It was a story of missed chances for the States but one that did go in was Haji Wright’s bizarre effort which caused mayhem for Andries Noppert and Denzel Dumfries.

But Dumfries went down the other end and put the game to bed.

And the joy of progressing in the World Cup knockout rounds was there for all to see …

As was the despair of being eliminated…

The Argentina fans took over the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium for their meeting with Australia.

As Lionel Messi stepped on to the pitch for what could’ve been the last time in an Argentina shirt.

But he made sure that wasn’t the case breaking the deadlock 35 minutes into the game.

A goalkeeping error from Matthew Ryan allowed Julian Álvarez to make it two.

Out of nowhere there was a late fightback from Australia after Craig Goodwin’s 77th-minute goal.

Leading Emi Martínez to make a vital save in the 97th minute.

But this was to be Argentina’s night …

You can read how the first day of the knockout rounds played out here.