The World Cup field kept shrinking over the weekend as the round of 16 began on Saturday, July 4 and more teams moved closer to the quarterfinals. Morocco, France, Brazil and England all advanced, while the tournament’s once 48-team field narrowed again.
That is why people are asking how many teams are left in the world cup now: the bracket has already started to sort winners from the rest, and the next round is coming fast. On Saturday, Morocco pulled away in the second half with three goals to secure its spot in the quarterfinals, while France survived a far tighter test against Paraguay. Kylian Mbappé settled that match with a penalty kick in the 70th minute, and that was enough to send Les Bleus through.
Paraguay did everything it could to rattle France, but the response from Mbappé ended the argument. The result mattered because it showed how quickly a single moment can decide a place in the next round, even when one side makes the match uncomfortable from the start.
Sunday brought more movement. Erling Haaland’s brace against Norway was enough to help Brazil advance, and Neymar added a late penalty kick. England also moved on after a match against Mexico that included penalty kicks, red cards and yellow cards, with The Three Lions holding on to advance. The pattern was the same in each case: the margin for error kept getting smaller as the tournament moved toward the quarterfinals.
The update is not finished yet. More games were set to kick off on Monday, which means the list of teams left in the World Cup was still changing as the round of 16 continued. By the time the next matches begin, the field will be even smaller and the pressure on every surviving side will be even sharper.
