Group stage excels as World Cup just keeps giving - now for the serious bit

DOHA : The first World Cup hosted by an Arab nation enters its knockout phase on Saturday, but such has been the daily rollercoaster of shocks, comebacks and head-spinning group climaxes that everyone involved should perhaps lie down for a week in a dark room before carrying on.

Forty-eight games and 120 goals into the latest edition of FIFA's showpiece and there has barely been a dull moment at a tournament that just keeps giving.

The last three nights of simultaneous group action were mind-boggling, with Japan stunning Spain to qualify from Group E and South Korea scoring a stoppage-time winner to beat Portugal and make it out of Group H.

Four-time champions Germany, on the other hand, are going home, still scratching their heads at how.

The tournament began with a glitzy ceremony and a tame opening game between Qatar and Ecuador, when the narrative still very much centred on the controversial host nation's treatment of migrant workers and the LGBT+ community.

That debate will continue after the final ball is kicked, but as far as what has happened inside the eight gleaming stadiums, the World Cup has been a stunning spectacle.

England's 6-2 hammering of Iran on day two and France's Kylian Mbappe-inspired 4-1 defeat of Australia were the early headline acts. Then the script was flipped upside down.

When Lionel Messi gave Argentina the lead from the penalty spot in their opening Group C match against Saudi Arabia, all seemed normal. But Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dawsari sealed a 2-1 Group C win for the 51st-ranked Green Falcons that, according to data company Nielsen Gracenote, was the biggest statistical shock in World Cup history.

Normal service resumed a day later when Spain thumped Costa Rica 7-0, but hours later Japan's