Overview
- By early Saturday the group stage had produced 19 confirmed round-of-16 teams and four locked pairings, with South Africa–Canada, Netherlands–Morocco, Brazil–Japan and USA–Bosnia already set.
- France beat Norway 4-1 on Friday with Ousmane Dembélé scoring a hat-trick to secure top spot in Group I while Norway finished second.
- Senegal’s 5-0 win over Iraq on Friday earned them third place in Group I and a strong chance to advance as one of the eight best third-placed teams because goal difference matters in the expanded 48-team format.
- Cape Verde advanced to the last 16 as Group H runners-up and will face Argentina, and Belgium topped Group G 5-1 over New Zealand while Egypt also progressed from that group.
- Remaining group finales and the ranked list of best third-placed teams will complete the 32-team knockout bracket and determine the other eight third-place qualifiers before the round-of-16 begins.