Which teams have been eliminated from the World Cup and who has qualified for the knockouts?

The second round of group stage games has seen the World Cup dreams of three sides come to a premature end.

Whilst being knocked out of the World Cup after just two matches may seem implausible in a tournament where the eight best third-place sides qualify for the knockouts, the early exits are all down to a new rule that has been introduced for 2026.

Instead of using goal difference as the first tiebreaker to split teams who finish level on the same number of points, which had been the case for every World Cup since 1970, the head-to-head record between sides will now be used instead.

But whilst several countries have already been dumped out of the competition, a number of teams have instead qualified for the knockout stages.

Introduced at the World Cup for the first time ever, owing to the involvement of 48 nations, the Round of 32 will consist of the 12 group winners, 12 group runner-ups and the aforementioned eight best third-placed teams.

Knocked out

Haiti

Haiti became the first team to be knocked out of the tournament after suffering defeats in their opening two games.

Their 1-0 loss to Scotland was particularly damaging, given the clash with Steve Clarke’s men essentially represented a must-win game owing to the fact Brazil and Morocco also make up Group C.

A subsequent 3-0 defeat to Brazil in their second game confirmed their fate, bringing a premature end to their first World Cup campaign since 1974.

Turkiye

Much was expected of the Turks, who would have been expected to qualify from a group containing the USA, Australia and Paraguay.

A hugely surprising 2-0 defeat to Australia in their first game was compounded by a 1-0 loss to Paraguay in their second, which was made all the worse by the fact their South American opponents were playing with 10 men for the entirety of the second half.

The two defeats saw Turkiye exit the World Cup after just ten days of competition, with their meeting with the USA on Friday now meaningless.

Tunisia

Tunisia’s World Cup campaign has been nothing short of a complete calamity.

A 5-1 defeat to Sweden in their first match saw them sack their coach Sabri Lamouchi, who became the first manager ever to lose his job at a World Cup after just one game.

Lamouchi’s successor Herve Renard, who is Tunisia’s seventh manager since their World Cup qualifying campaign started, could not prevent the North African side from losing 4-0 to Japan in their second game to cap off what has been a miserable few days for the team.

Qualified for the knockouts

Co-hosts Mexico and the USA were the first sides to book their place in the Round of 32 having clinched top spot in Groups A and D respectively.

Germany will also take their place in the next round courtesy of topping Group E.

The Round of 32 will get underway on June 28 and will wrap up on July 3.