World Cup Takeaways: Round of 32

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein from Getty Images

For the first time in World Cup history, we have a round of 32.

And boy, did they deliver.

Well, most of them.

Let’s get into it.

Canada defeats South Africa 1-0

This was the first game of the knockout round, and it was an absolute snoozer.

No high quality chances. No real threat of South Africa scoring.

This game felt destined for extra time.

But Stephen Eustaquio had a great strike to score in the 92nd minute, winning Canada’s first ever knockout round game, advancing them to the final 16, and saving us from 30 more minutes of that.

Thank you, Stephen.

Brazil defeats Japan 2-1

Japan just can’t get it done.

In 2018, they took a shocking 2-0 lead over Belgium in the round of 16, before blowing it and losing 3-2.

In 2022, they beat Germany and Spain in the group stage, only for them to lose in penalty kicks to Croatia.

And they held their own and even took a 1-0 lead over Brazil, but in the 95th minute, let it slip away with one lapse in defense, leaving Gabriel Martinelli alone for the 95th minute game winning goal.

Three straight World Cups. Three straight failures to break through in a tight game against a tough opponent.

Maybe in 2030.

Paraguay defeats Germany 1-1 (4-3 on penalties)

Germany won the World Cup in 2014.

Since then, they have failed.

2018 and 2022 they didn’t get out of the group stage, and while they got out of the group in 2026, they still failed to make the round of 16 thanks to a devastating loss to Paraguay.

It’s one thing to lose to a lesser opponent (no offense, Paraguay). It’s one thing to miss three penalty kicks in the shootout, adding the total of missed penalty kicks in penalty shootouts by Germany to four total.

But now, it’s been revealed that multiple players refused to take the 6th kick before Jonathan Tah stepped up and skied it over the bar.

But hey, at least he stepped up.

That’s more than a lot of other Germans can say.

It shows a strong culture issue within the German team that needs to get fixed, and it has to be fixed at the top.

Jurgen Klopp, anyone?

Morocco defeats Netherlands 1-1 (3-2 on penalties)

This was one of the worst penalty kick shootouts I can remember.

Missing the goal entirely. Multiple poor penalties that were saved.

Even one of the ones that was scored should have been saved, but the Holland goalkeeper kicked it back into his own net on accident.

But none of that matters in the end.

What matters is the Netherlands we saw in the group stage was nowhere to be found against Morocco.

They attacked Japan, Sweden, and Tunisia. Chances allowed be damned.

If they give up a goal, fine. They were going to score multiple.

But against Morocco, a switch completely flipped.

Holland had 30% possession and only managed two shots on goal for the entire 120 minutes.

Their possible win in regulation would have been underwhelming, and it’s only fitting Morocco tied it at the last second, and got the win.

It was a complete 180 from who they were, and it’s why they’re going home.

Norway defeats Ivory Coast 2-1

A tough, gritty game that had two absolutely incredible goals.

But in the end, Erling Haaland hadn’t scored yet.

And that was always going to happen.

Haaland is now the fastest player to reach 60 international goals, doing so in only 53 games.

I don’t know how far Norway will go, but I don’t doubt that Haaland can take them very far.

That’s very clear.

France defeats Sweden 3-0

France is just miles better than Sweden.

There’s not a whole lot more to discuss other than that.

In fact, France might just be miles better than everyone.

Mexico defeats Ecuador 2-0

Mexico has now won their second ever knockout round game, their first being 1986 when the World Cup was also hosted in Mexico.

There is something about El Tri at home that just makes them an absolute power.

They’re fun to watch, and the atmosphere is incredible.

They’ll get another home game in the round of 16 as well.

Watch out…

England defeats DR Congo 2-1

I think everyone, apart from the English of course, were rooting for DR Congo.

Not because they don’t like the English (well, maybe some of them don’t), but because shocking World Cup upsets are fun.

So it was heartbreaking to see Harry Kane score two late goals to win the game for England.

But we can’t say it wasn’t deserved.

England had excellent chance after excellent chance either saved, or cleared off the line.

It felt inevitable they would find a way to win, and they did.

Belgium defeats Senegal 3-2

Senegal had this game in the bag.

2-0 up in the 85th minute.

But a lapse in defense gave Belgium a lifeline, and a controversial Belgian goal three minutes later tied things up.

And then, just before penalty kicks, and unfortunately sweep of the leg put Belgium at the penalty spot with a chance to win, which they took.

A heartbreaking loss for Senegal.

But hey, this was still less heartbreaking than the 2025 AFCON Final!

Again, look it up.

USA defeats Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0

Even with ten men, it didn’t feel like the U.S. was going to lose this game.

Bosnia-Herzegovina had a couple chances quickly after the red card, but the better quality chances came from the U.S., which is why they easily put the game away to move onto the round of 16.

But they do so without their leading goal scorer, Flo Balogun.

If they want to beat Belgium, they’re going to need more from Christian Pulisic, who has shown flashes of excellence, but not consistently.

We’ll see if he can put it together for 90 minutes.

Spain defeats Austria 3-0

A lot of these World Cup knockout games have been excellent and fun to watch, including some upsets.

Spain and France made sure their games were not interesting, and easy wins.

Such is life when you’re one of the best nations in the world.

Portugal defeats Croatia 2-1

There were two big takeaways from this game.

First, Portugal is just better with Ronaldo on the bench.

I know that’s hard to hear, but it’s true.

They did nothing in front of goal until Ronaldo slotted home a penalty kick for a foul drawn off of a corner, and then late in the game with extra time on the horizon, he was subbed out for Goncalo Ramos.

The first chance Portugal had, Ramos headed it home for the win.

Ronaldo is a legend, but it’s time for him to embrace the super sub role for the betterment of Portugal.

The second takeaway is that technology has gone too far.

Croatia somehow miraculously tied the game in the 102nd minute, and as it was being reviewed for offside, it was clear that the player who got onto the end of the pass was offside.

What wasn’t clear, was if his Croatian teammate touched the ball before it got to him. If he hadn’t it would count as a good goal, as the player wouldn’t be offside.

But don’t worry, folks! FIFA put a chip in the ball that shows if the ball got touched, and the censor spiked up! Showing it had!

Don’t mind that your eyes couldn’t actually see it. That’s not important. The technology said so.

Look, I’m not saying FIFA is rigging anything, or even that the technology is wrong. I believe the Croatian player did get a touch to it, or else the censor wouldn’t have moved.

My question is, who cares?

Tech for offside? All for that. Very important feature.

Tech to see if the ball grazed a dudes hair when the naked eye can’t see it? Too much. Get rid of it.

Switzerland defeats Algeria 2-0

If you stayed up late for this one, you didn’t exactly miss a classic.

The Swiss were expected to be better than Algeria, and they were.

Easy 2-0 win.

Egypt defeats Australia 1-1 (4-2 on penalties)

I know saving penalty kicks is hard, but there’s something so funny to me about a coach switching out his starting goalie for the backup goalie because he’s a “penalty specialist” like Australia did, only for him to not save a single penalty.

Just amazing.

Argentina defeats Cape Verde 3-2

Yeah yeah Argentina won whatever.

Cape Verde, take a bow.

Cape Verde didn’t lose a game in regulation all tournament, and they played the likes of Spain, Uruguay, and now Argentina.

They defended insanely well, but never played a CONCACAF style of defense where they just hack and foul to make it hard.

They just played extremely sound defense, and left us with the game, and goal of the tournament.

Hats off, Cape Verde.

You earned a lot of respect in this tournament.

Columbia defeats Ghana 1-0

It was a tournament of “almost” for Ghana.

They almost had a devastating draw to Paraguay.

They almost beat England.

They almost drew to Croatia.

So maybe, they’d finally get it done against Columbia.

Nope.

1-0 loss with a whopping zero shots at all.

Great job, Columbia, but yikes, Ghana…