Scenarios for Portugal finishes first in the group
This time the accounts are positive. Accustomed to the calculator in qualifying, the Portuguese are in the round of 16 after two games and will only need to do math to find out if they finish group H in first or second place.
The victory against Uruguay confirmed the selection’s passage to the next round – already with six points, three more than the second, Ghana. South Korea and Uruguay each have one.
Here are the scenarios for Portugal to finish first: If they win or draw with the team coached by Paulo Bento in the last round (Friday) and if they lose to South Korea by a goal, as long as Ghana does not win in the duel with Uruguay by two or more goals.
The other three people in the group fought for qualification, with the Ghanaians depending only on themselves to proceed to the eighth. Ghana qualify with the victory over Uruguay, and may even advance if they draw, as long as South Korea does not win by more than two goals against Portugal.
Uruguay, on the other hand, will only qualify if they defeat Ghana and South Korea do not beat the Portuguese, while Paulo Bento has to beat Portugal to continue dreaming, but that may not be enough…
The third round of the 2022 World Cup starts on Tuesday, the day that some will start to do the math. And some can be complex. There are eight criteria for determining the ranking order in the group stage. The first is the total number of points obtained and the next seven apply to the different scenarios in cases of equality.
A saber:
a) greater number of points obtained in all games;
b) greater difference between goals scored and conceded in all games;
c) greater number of goals scored in all games (example: if two teams had, for example, a positive balance of two goals, the one with the most goals scored is ahead.
If none of these criteria is sufficient, move on to the other five.
d) greater number of points obtained in the game(s) between the tied teams;
e) higher goal difference resulting from games between tied teams;
f) greater number of goals scored in all games between the tied teams;
g) disciplinary sufficiency. A yellow card subtracts one point; an expulsion for yellow exclusion subtracts three points; a straight red subtracts four points; a yellow card followed by a straight red subtracts 5 points. The team that has the most points (not to be confused with more negative points) finishes ahead.
If none of the above criteria are acceptable, it’s a coin toss… or almost. It will be a draw held by FIFA to choose the team that advances.