The United States and Senegal are the other two teams through while Iran miss out along with Qatar

England and the Netherlands head the first teams into the last 16 of the Qatar World Cup

photo_camera PHOTO/AFP - World Cup 2022 match between the Netherlands and Qatar

The first teams to seal their place in the last 16 of the World Cup in Qatar are the Netherlands, the United States, England and Senegal.

In Group A we find the worst team of the World Cup, the host Qatar, who leave the event with a poor record of seven goals conceded, one scored and zero points after losing all their matches.

It was precisely the last match against Louis Van Gaal's team that allowed the finalists of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to go through as top of the group after a 3-0 win, a result that Gakpo is proud of. 

The PSV Eindhoven player has three World Cup goals to his name, the same as Mbappé, and has European clubs eyeing him in the winter transfer window or in the summer of 2023 for his goalscoring prowess.

Sadio Mané celebrated Senegal's place in the last 16 at home after a 2-1 win over Ecuador. The African side overcame an equaliser from the Ecuadorians to win their place in a match in which they deactivated their opponents thanks to a late goal from Chelsea's Kalidou Koulibaly.

In Group B, all the teams were in with a chance of reaching the last 16 of the world finals. England became one of the favourites to bring football back home, as their anthem song 'Football is coming home' says.

Nine goals scored and two conceded for Southgate's side but with Kane missing his debut and Rashford's double and Foden joining him to send Wales home is their return to a World Cup more than 60 years later.

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Wales may be another of the worst teams. Six goals conceded and one scored, although they were able to scrape a point against the United States. Bale bowed out of his only World Cup with an injury that saw him retire at half-time. He had time to shove a television cameraman at the end of the game who was focusing on one of the stars of the World Cup.

The Welshman says he will continue to come to the Wales call-up, although he will have to at least continue playing in Los Angeles in the MLS.

The United States and Iran played a match that was politically charged but did not carry over onto the pitch. The Iranian players sang their country's anthem after reprisals against their family threatened by their government. Afterwards, Carlos Queiroz played the role of dressing room leader, protecting the tense situations experienced by players he described as "children", but not in a derogatory way, more to send a message that they were too young to withstand all the internal pressure. 

Pulisic scored the only goal and then got injured, which caused the Americans to dig in and play defensive football that almost cost them a draw and elimination in the final minutes.

It is noticeable that the level of US players has risen in recent years with more presence in Europe, more competitiveness in MLS and a World Cup on the horizon for 2026 where they will be the main country along with Mexico and Canada.

Next Saturday, 3 December, the Netherlands and the United States will play the first match of the Round of 16 at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha at 15:00 Spanish time. On 4 December, England will play England against Senegal at 20:00 at the Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar.

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