FIFA’s new “double-elimination rule” made some teams early group champions, while others were quickly eliminated from the tournament.
On the other hand, the door remains open for the eight best third-placed sides to advance to the knockout stage, with the final group matches remaining crucial.
Previously, if two or more teams were equal in points, they were considered on the difference of the first goals, so the difference of 3 points in the last match was eliminated.
This time, FIFA changed the rules to give first preference to head-to-head results between teams with equal points, followed by goal difference, goals scored, fair play record and finally the FIFA rankings.
