Spain's emergence as the favourites to win the World Cup in South Africa was definitely not just touted by the media, as Spain's odds to win the tournament immediately rose to the top spot after a 3-1 win over Chile and a successful finish at the top of the group.

Before the start of the World Cup, although the Spanish team was also the favorite to win the championship, it was only third, ahead of them Brazil and Germany, and after the first round of the group stage loss, the Spanish team fell again and again, from third to ninth, even if the second round of the big victory over Honduras, it only made their ranking back one place.

The reason is simple, although they got the precious three points on the qualifying line, the Spanish team is not as good as the Swiss team, and they are likely to go home early after the group stage, so naturally there is no talk of the subsequent title fight.

But in the final round, the Spanish team defeated the South American powerhouse Chile 3-1 cleanly, and Fan Bizhuang regarded the goal as if he were looking for a bag, and the strong and capable Spanish team that can play artistic football made the world see their return declaration.

Everyone realized that the returning Matador Legion had experienced the baptism of wind and rain and setbacks, and was more tenacious and strong, and more professional bookmakers naturally began to recalculate the odds, and after this calculation, the odds ranking of the Spanish team immediately jumped up like a rocket, and it was directly killed to the first place.

Of course, this is all the voice and talk of the outside world, but it has nothing to do with the Spanish team, and the focus of the matadors is not on it.

Breaking through from the group and advancing to the knockout stage, then what they are most concerned about is the situation in the next knockout stage.

With the dust settled on the two teams that qualified from Group H, the group stage of this World Cup has all ended, all eight groups have been decided, and all 16 teams have advanced to the knockout stage.

Group A: Uruguay, Mexico; Group B: Argentina, South Korea; Group C: England, United States; Group D: Germany, Ghana; Group E: Netherlands, Japan; Group F: Slovakia, Paraguay; Group G, Brazil, Portugal; Group H: Spain, Chile.

The top 16 of the World Cup in South Africa are all freshly released, and this promotion list is happy and worried.

As the host, the South African team is out of the game early, which makes many local fans feel regretful, but this result is actually expected, in this group, the overall strength of the remaining three teams is above the host, even Mexico, the strength is slightly better than South Africa, if it is not for the identity of the host to give the South African team a lot of home convenience, in the opening game, the South African team will be more unfavorable.

However, despite only three group stage tours, South Africa's performance deserves recognition and praise, not only picking up four points, but also beating former world giants France in the final round.

South Africa have done their best and the overall performance has been satisfactory, but the other team in Group A is synonymous with sadness.

That team is the Gallic Roosters France.

As a world-class giant, although the French team is in the process of renewal after the retirement of a number of famous players such as Zidane in recent years, its strength and competitiveness have declined significantly, but as the saying goes, the skinny camel is bigger than the horse, and there are three points to break the ship, especially before the start of the World Cup, the French team simply cut down the new European king Spain team in the warm-up match, which makes fans have a lot of expectations for them - even if it is not as good as in the past, but there should be no problem in qualifying from the group, right? Whether it is Uruguay or Mexico in the same group, or the host French team, these teams are more than inferior to the French team in terms of hard power.

But the final result was to break everyone's glasses, facing three teams that were not as strong as themselves, the French team turned out to be a winless game: a 0:0 draw with Uruguay in the first round, a 0:2 defeat to Mexico in the second round, and a 2:1 defeat by South Africa, which is considered to be the weakest team in the group.

It is a great irony that the French team, the former double champion of the European Championship and the World Cup, only got one point and was eliminated from the World Cup with the bottom of the group, and it is also one of the biggest upsets exposed in this Cup.

What makes countless fans even more incomprehensible and unacceptable is that in the process of the group stage, the French team was exposed to the "scandal" of team infighting, and many players in the team openly questioned and opposed the head coach Domenech, which may be an important reason for the sluggish performance of the French team in this Cup.

Of course, the reason why the French team who have been eliminated is one of the biggest upsets in this cup is because they are not the only giants who have returned home early.

They are also in sympathy with the Azzurri Italy in Group F.

Italy is an established and traditional powerhouse in world football, having won one European Championship and four World Cups in their history, which is enough to show that they are one of the best national teams in international competitions.

And it is such a giant team that won the championship in the last World Cup, but the performance of this World Cup is terrible.

Italy drew 1-1 with South American side Paraguay in the first round and drew again with New Zealand in the second round, two games, two draws, and two points, and the subsequent exit of Italy laid a hidden danger.

But in fact, after two draws in a row, not many people expected Italy to face the fate of elimination after the final round. Because the Italian team has a laughable "tradition", often before the tournament, their form is average, the qualifiers stumble, and after entering the main competition, the performance in the group stage is not satisfactory. Although it is always thrilling all the way, in the end it is to qualify for the knockout stage, and in the knockout stage, Italy will be like waking up from sleep, as if it is a different team, and the more they fight, the more courageous they are, and they can beat any team.

At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Italy was in such a situation, playing like a bunch of dogs in the qualifiers and group stages... , but when it came to the knockout stage, it was unstoppable bravery, overcoming strong opponents all the way, and finally slashing the French team led by Zidane, thus winning the championship in one fell swoop.

It's a team that adjusts to the tournament as it progresses, so despite two draws in a row, almost everyone is more optimistic that Italy will win in the final round to qualify for the knockout stages and make a big splash in the knockout stages, just as they did four years ago.

But the result was that Italy lost to Slovakia with a score of 2:3 in the final round, and they were out of the tournament with only two points.

The upset was as shocking and embarrassing as France's elimination, and after all the games in the eight groups, someone lamented: "It's right to adjust to the state slowly, because it will make a team stronger and stronger, and the self-confidence will grow." Italy won the championship in 06 like this, but we must be clear that slow heating is not the same as putting their fate in the hands of others, otherwise they can only be slaughtered by others. Italy's exit is a good lesson for us! ”

Although the departure of the two world-class giants and powerhouses is somewhat surprising and regretful, it also makes all the teams that have reached the top 16 aware of the cruelty of the cup, which also makes them more vigilant and focused, and even strong teams such as France and Italy can be eliminated in advance, indicating that none of the teams that can advance to the top 16 is a "soft persimmon", and every game, every opponent, must go all out to deal with it.

In any case, the teams that have advanced to the round of 16 of this World Cup have been born, among them, five teams from South America have qualified, namely Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile; Europe, on the other hand, occupies six seats, Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, Slovakia, and the Netherlands, which is also the continent with the most qualified teams among all continents; Africa and North America and North and Central America each grabbed only one spot: Ghana, the United States and Mexico. The remaining two spots are occupied by Asian teams, namely South Korea and Japan.

Europe and South America are still the largest continents in terms of qualifications, which is not much different from the past, and basically most of the time, the championship is monopolized by the teams of these two continents.

And the teams of the rest of the continents are more of a role in accompanying the prince to study.

Of course, with all the teams on the list of teams to advance to the round of 16, the world's attention is focused on the upcoming brackets.

If the group stage is just an appetizer for the World Cup, then the knockout stage is the beginning of the main meal.

Fans all over the world are looking forward to a more intense and exciting matchup.

The list of matchups was also released soon.

According to FIFA's sub-divisions, the first place in the four ACEG groups will be placed in the same half as the second place in the four BDFH groups, while the other half will include the first place in the four BDFH groups and the second place in the four ACEG groups.

As soon as the respective halves are divided, the situation between the teams will be clear at a glance.

The eight teams facing each other in the first half are: South Korea vs. Uruguay, Ghana vs. the United States, England vs. Germany, Mexico vs. Argentina; The eight teams facing each other in the bottom half are: Slovakia vs. Netherlands, Chile vs. Brazil, Japan vs. Paraguay, Portugal vs. Spain.

Overall, the situation in the first half of the region is clearer, and it is better to predict the outcome of the subsequent matches, except for England and Germany, the two traditional European powerhouses, which are evenly matched, the remaining three groups of teams are quite clear.

The bottom half of the bracket is also clearly defined, with both the Netherlands and Brazil having a crushing advantage over their respective opponents in terms of strength and previous head-to-head records, while Japan and Paraguay are similar, making it difficult to predict who will win or lose.

The most striking thing is the "brotherly dispute" between Spain and Portugal.

Both teams are very strong, typical of European Latin football, and in terms of territory, the two countries border each other, and the players of the two countries are not only close to each other, but also have similar football styles, and many players play in each other's leagues.

The history of the Portuguese team has seen the emergence of many stars, such as Figo, Rui. Costa, Deco, etc., and now the leader is Cristiano who plays for Real Madrid. Ronaldo.