There are no points earned. There are no standings. There's simply a winner and a loser.
There has to be a winner on the day for each Round of 16 match and for subsequent knockout-round matches (quarterfinals, semifinals, third-place match, final). So if teams are tied after 90 minutes of regulation, the match goes into a 30-minute period of extra time. If the deadlock persists after those 30 minutes of extra time, then a penalty shootout will determine the team that moves on to the quarterfinals.
The bracket above comes in two halves. And each will produce a World Cup finalist.
One half of the bracket features the following teams, from which one lucky finalist will emerge:
- Netherlands (Group A winner)
- USA (Group B runner-up)
- Argentina (Group C winner)
- Australia (Group D runner-up)
- Japan (Group E winner)
- Croatia (Group F runner-up)
- Brazil (Group G winner)
- South Korea (Group H runner-up)
The other half of the bracket will produce the other World Cup finalist from the following list:
- Senegal (Group A runner-up)
- England (Group B winner)
- Poland (Group C runner-up)
- France (Group D winner)
- Spain (Group E runner-up)
- Morocco (Group F winner)
- Switzerland (Group G runner-up)
- Portugal (Group H winner)
LET THE KNOCKOUT STAGES BEGIN!!!!!!!
