The insanely hard path to the final that awaits the Netherlands or Japan | OneFootball

In no group is it more important to come top than Group F with one of the Netherlands or Japan facing a potentially ridiculous knockout run.

Group F is one of the most finely poised after two rounds with three of the four teams still able to finish top and doing so will have a huge impact on how far they could go in the tournament.

After two rounds, the Netherlands are currently top after they hammered Sweden 5-1.

Level on four points is Japan and as their head-to-head game with the Dutch ended 2-2, it comes down to goal difference. That is currently tied at +4 but the Netherlands have scored seven goals to Japan’s six, meaning the former currently top the group.

Sweden, despite the hammering, are also not out of it. They are on three points with a zero goal difference after their opening match hammering of the already-eliminated Tunisia. It is though unlikely for them to come second as they would need to draw with Japan and have the Netherlands lose 5-0 to Tunisia.

The winner of Group F will then face the second-place team in Group C, which is currently Morocco. Get through that and they will face the winner of South Korea v Switzerland as it stands. They would then have a quarter-final against most likely Germany.

Should they win that then they would face one of Ghana, Uruguay, Austria, USA, Ecuador, New Zealand, Czechia or DR Congo in the semis.

And even with meeting the Germans in the quarters, that path is a lot kinder than the nightmare that awaits the runners-up of Group F.

The second-place team will start the knockout phase by facing the winners of Group B which is currently Brazil.

As a reward for getting through that, they will most likely play France in the round of 16 and then one of Spain, England or Portugal in the quarter finals,

Make it through that and Argentina could be waiting for them in the semi-finals.

That means that the runner up in Group F will likely face a World Cup winner in every knockout round.

So while there will be plenty of dead rubbers in the third round of matches, that is very much not the case in Group F.

The favourites to go through as winners has to be the Netherlands who face a Tunisia side that has scored just one goal this tournament and shipped nine.

Meanwhile, Japan and Sweden face off, both knowing only a win will suffice if they want to top the group. For Japan to do so, they need to beat Sweden by a scoreline greater than the Netherlands beat Tunisia. For Sweden to do so, they need to beat Japan and hope the Dutch fail to win.

Whoever finishes third will most likely also make it through with the current predictions suggesting three points with a goal difference of -2 would be enough to go through.

Predicting the path for the third best team is a lot more guess work given we do not know what order they will finish in as of yet. Currently, Sweden are due to play Scandinavian neighbours Norway in the round of 32.