After the World Cup's group stages, June 11-25, the knock-out rounds begin in earnest. Each group winner has a potentially easier route through the 'Round of 16' to the Quarterfinals, at least in theory, facing up against runners up from another group.
This year's exception to the rule are likely to be the Group H nations meeting the survivors of Group G, known as the "group of death". Group G accommodates Brazil, Portugal and the Ivory Coast along with tournament minnows Korea DPR.
All three are ranked highly - Brazil and Portugal are currently the 1st and 3rd best in the world, while the Ivory Coast's 27th-placed squad accommodates many well-known names of European football.
All times shown here are South African Standard Time / Central Africa Time, UTC+2. Central Europe is in the same timezone, with the UK one hour behind.
In North America, Eastern Daylight Time is 5 hours behind, and Pacific Daylight Time 7 hours behind. In Asia, Japanese Standard Time is 9 hours ahead while Malaysia is 8 hours ahead.
Saturday 26 June
16:00 Group A Winner vs Group B Runner-up
20:30 Group C Winner vs Group D Runner-up
Sunday 27 June
16:00 Group D Winner vs Group C Runner-up
20:30 Group B Winner vs Group A Runner-up
Monday 28 June
16:00 Group E Winner vs Group F Runner-up
20:30 Group G Winner vs Group H Runner-up
Tuesday 29 June
16:00 Group F Winner vs Group E Runner-up
20:30 Group H Winner vs Group G Runner-up
World Cup Groups and FIFA World Rankings
Group A
France (9), Mexico (17), Uruguay (16), South Africa (83)
Group B
Argentina (7), Greece (13), Nigeria (21), Korea Republic (47)
Group C
England (8), United States (14), Slovenia (25), Algeria (30)
Group D
Germany (6), Serbia (15), Australia (20), Ghana (32)
Group E
Netherlands (4), Cameroon (19), Denmark (36), Japan (45)
Group F
Italy (5), Paraguay (31), Slovakia (34), New Zealand (78)
Group G
Brazil (1), Portugal (3), Ivory Coast (27), Korea DPR (105)
Group H
Spain (2), Chile (18), Switzerland (24), Honduras (38)
For more information, see FIFA.com/worldcup/matches.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments