The true path to glory in this World Cup begins: Spain will face Austria in the round of sixteen

After a group stage with many emotions and surprises, the round of sixteen of the World Cup begins. With the 32 qualified teams, the paths that each team will have to overcome to achieve glory are already known. As expected, already in the round of sixteen there are some very interesting matchups between teams with great aspirations in this tournament.

Starting with Spain, its rival will be the national team of Austria. After securing first place in the group by beating Uruguay, Spain will face a tough Austrian team on Thursday, July 2, at 9:00 PM (Spanish time). Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal will face Croatia, which has been third and second in the last two World Cups, becoming a very dangerous team. This match is one of the most highlighted, due to the level of both teams, but above all, because from this match would come Spain's rival in a hypothetical round of sixteen.

Continuing with more great matches, the Netherlands and Morocco will face each other in the early hours of Tuesday, June 30, in a match that is predicted to be very intense and evenly matched. The team with the most World Cups in history, Brazil, will face Japan this June 29 at 7:00 PM. Brazil starts as a favorite, however, it is not expected to be an easy match, as Japan is having a great tournament, and its football has been growing significantly in recent years. Another candidate team, such as France, will cross paths with Sweden, which managed to qualify as one of the best third-place teams. The match will take place on Tuesday, June 30, at 11:00 PM.

To conclude with the big matches of this first elimination round, the defending champion, Argentina, will play against the surprise of the championship, Cape Verde, at 00:00 on Saturday, July 4, being the most important match in the history of the African country. And other clashes, perhaps of less prominence, but matches of great equality and very good level are, Mexico against Ecuador, Senegal against Belgium or Colombia against Ghana, giving us some matches that promise to be vibrant and of great footballing level.