🏆 Round of 32 bracket, projections and who has the easier side? 🌍 | OneFootball

The group stage has come to an end overnight in Italy with yet another Messi masterpiece, Portugal’s draw (CR7 underwhelming once again), and qualification for Austria, Algeria, and DR Congo: now the paths to the final are set.

Let’s take a look at the bracket and the teams that will have easier or tougher opponents, at least on paper.

🏆 The bracket

On the left side of the bracket, the following matches will be played:

On the right side, meanwhile, there are “only” 3 giants: Argentina, England, and Brazil:

🎇 An “easy” side of the bracket, BIG matches on the other

RIGHT SIDE

The teams that will likely have a smoother path to the final are definitely those on the right side of the bracket, where Argentina, England, and Brazil are.

The first big match on this side could be Brazil-England in the quarter-finals.

Argentina, on the other hand, could have an easier route up to the quarter-finals, where they may face Colombia or Switzerland. To see the first “clash of the titans,” we’ll likely have to wait until the semi-finals, perhaps against Brazil or England.

LEFT SIDE

The other side of the bracket will give us some huge clashes right away: Portugal-Croatia in the round of 32 is already an incredible matchup, made even more fascinating by the fact that Spain will (probably) be waiting for one of the two in the round of 16. 

Another of the most interesting matches in the round of 32 is certainly Netherlands-Morocco: the (official) Africa Cup of Nations winners and semi-finalists at the last World Cup against a historic national team like the Oranje.

🎭 The unluckiest and luckiest teams in the draw

The most unfortunate teams in relation to their group-stage performances are definitely Netherlands, Morocco, Japan, and Austria. Despite finishing top of their group, the Oranje will face a powerhouse like Morocco in the round of 32.

Meanwhile, Japan, Austria, and Morocco will run into giants like Brazil, Spain, and the Netherlands (respectively) after finishing 2nd in their groups. The same goes for Portugal and Croatia, who will face each other in the round of 32.

The luckiest teams, meanwhile, are without doubt Australia, Bosnia, Egypt, Canada, South Africa, Ghana, and Ecuador.

For Australia and Egypt, finishing 2nd in their group was enough to set up a round-of-32 meeting with each other (even if they will then most likely face Argentina). The same applies to Canada and South Africa.

Then there are the teams that got more manageable matchups despite finishing 3rd: Ecuador will face Mexico, Bosnia will take on the USA, and Ghana will meet Colombia.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

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