The Group A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H matches are done for World Cup 2014, and 16 teams are confirmed for the second round.
Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Chile, Colombia, Greece, Costa Rica, and Uruguay are through from Groups A, B, C, and D.
Hosts Brazil topped Group A with 7 points from the three matches. While Mexico also garnered 7 points, they finished second on goal difference.
In Group B, Netherlands finished as leaders the maximum 9 points by winning all their matches. Chile came in second with 6 points after losing to the Netherlands on Monday.
As the winner of Group A will face the runner up of Group B, and vice versa, Brazil will next face Chile in a round of 16 match on June 28, while Netherlands will clash with Mexico on June 29.
Colombia and Greece are through in Group C.
Colombia top the group with the maximum 9 points after beating Ivory Coast, Japan, and Greece.
Greece finish second after pipping Ivory Coast by a single point and goal in their 2-1 victory in their final Group C match.
In Group D, Costa Rica and Uruguay are through.
Costa Rica topped the group with 7 points following a dull 0-0 draw with England, while Uruguay edged past Italy 1-0 in a cagey, controversial encounter.
Check out the bracket after the completion of Group A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H matches below. All times are Eastern Daylight Time.
(FIFA.com)
Here is an Associated Press round-up of the Monday matches.
Neymar Leads Brazil; Mexico Also Through
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil relied on its star Neymar for two early goals to beat Cameroon 4-1 Monday and reach the World Cup’s knockout stage for a South American showdown against Chile, a 2-0 loser to the Netherlands.
Winning its Group B with its third straight victory made sure that the Dutch avoided the host so early in the tournament. Instead, the Netherlands will face Mexico, which beat Croatia 3-1 to advance alongside Brazil from Group A.
Spain beat Australia 3-0 in an inconsequential game between already eliminated teams, a victory providing a little balm on the disappointing defense of its title.
With free-flowing games and buckets full of goals the rule in this outstanding tournament, it took until the final minutes of the Group A games for Brazil to make sure it advanced as group leader on goal difference over Mexico.
Both finished with seven points, with Croatia eliminated with three points, while Cameroon finished with three losses. Brazil finished first because it had a better goal differential than Mexico, plus 5 to plus 3.
The Netherlands was the first perfect team to advance, finishing ahead of Chile in Group B. Spain had three points with Monday’s win, and Australia had three losses.
Beyond the statistics, it again was Neymar who fully lived up to expectations of the 200 million football fans in Brazil with flair and lethal finishing, making the difference with first-half strikes against an African opponent that fought hard for one half before succumbing.
Neymar used array of spin moves and delicate touches to get by players, delighting the crowd in Brasilia — including Britain’s Prince Harry.
Neymar has four goals from three games to lead the top scorer’s standings, edging a group of five players with three goals.
Much like the opener, Neymar carried the weight for his team, scoring the first with a subtle inside-foot flick while adding a second with a darting run before wrong-footing the Cameroon goalie with a right-foot drive.
The oft-criticized Fred may have kept himself in the starting lineup with a header just after halftime. Substitute Fernandinho closed out the scoring for Brazil.
With everything to play for, Mexico came through with three goals in a 10-minute spurt of excitement late in the game against Croatia.
So often in this tournament, goals deep in the second half have made the difference, and Monday was no exception.
The Dutch scored twice in the last 13 minutes against Chile to finish the group stage with three straight wins. Quite a turnaround for a team thought to be on the wane with aging stars like Arjen Robben.
Yet the Dutch have scored 10 goals in three victories. Now, only the foolhardy would relish the prospect of facing the orange-clad team.
“We wanted to be first in the group. Now we will see what is coming at us,” said Robben, who added an assist against Chile to the three goals he scored in earlier games.
Leroy Fer scored a minute after going on as a substitute to get the Netherlands ahead in the 77th minute. Then, when some other players had already gone down with cramps, Robben launched into another of his trademark sprints across the pitch and passed perfectly to Memphis Depay for the tap-in that put the game away.
While Robben is going strong after hitting his thirties, age caught up with the Spanish stars this tournament, particularly in their 5-1 opening loss to the Netherlands.
They regained a little pride Monday. In a game of goodbyes, David Villa marked his final appearance for Spain with a record 59th goal for the national team.
Fernando Torres, who set off Spain’s rise by scoring the winner in the 2008 European championship final, also scored. Juan Mata added the third.
Spain also won the 2010 World Cup and repeated as European champs in 2012.
At least Spain avoided finishing last in its group.
Uruguay, the semifinalist of 2010, could be facing elimination on Tuesday, but after Luis Suarez returned from injury and scored both goals against England, there is no counting out the former champion.
Suarez shrugged off any lingering concerns about his surgically repaired left knee and said he was in “perfect shape” to face Italy.
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