FIFA Men's World Cup

With World Cup field halved, here’s a look at what’s next

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:02 p.m. ET

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MOSCOW (AP) No more ties, or tiebreakers. The World Cup is into the knockout stage, and every match will end with someone going home.

On Saturday, that meant two of the greatest players of the era followed each other out of the tournament. Lionel Messi and Argentina lost 4-3 to France, which got two goals from teenager Kylian Mbappe. Four hours later, Cristian Ronaldo and his European champion Portugal team lost 2-1 to Uruguay.

France and Uruguay were the first teams to reach the quarterfinals, and they'll meet on July 6.

Here's a look at what's next:

Sunday starts with Russia hosting Spain in Moscow's main stadium, with the late game pitting Denmark, which hasn't lost since the fall of 2016, against Croatia, which eased through its group with three wins. The winners meet July 7.

Belgium - one of the few top-tier teams to deliver on its hype in the group stage - plays Japan, which sneaked out of its group because it got fewer yellow cards than Senegal on Monday. The later match that day pits Neymar and a Brazil lineup that seems to be finding its form against a mercurial Mexico squad that knocked off Germany and South Korea but got hammered by Sweden . The winners play July 6.

England will carry high expectations into its match Tuesday against a talented Colombia team after essentially choosing that matchup by fielding a squad of reserves in its last group game against Belgium. And the final game of the round of 16 features a Swedish side that won a tough group versus a Swiss team with issues in the back but enough talent up front to score against anyone. The winners play July 7 for the right to go to the semifinals.

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FIFA Men's World Cup

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