Is Spain Still in the World Cup? Knockout Stage Info and More

Updated: Sep 10, 5:00pm UTC

After blowing out Costa Rica 7-0 in its opening game of the 2022 World Cup, Spain's fortunes took a drastic shift when they next drew with tournament dud Germany in its second match and then lost to Japan in its third match.

After that disappointing group stage showing, plenty of fans are wondering whether Spain did enough to advance to the knockout stage as one of the 16 teams remaining in the World Cup.

Is Spain Still in the World Cup?

Yes, Spain is still in the World Cup after squeaking through to emerge as the No. 2 seed in Group E.

Despite putting up a weak 1-1-1 record (the same record owned by seven different countries that didn't advance), Spain just managed to earn a spot in the knockout stage.

The key to the Spanish team's advance was that 7-0 win over Costa Rica. After looking at teams' records, the tiebreak to advance is goal differential. Since Spain and Germany both finished 1-1-1 in Group E, it was Spain's +6 goal differential (compared to +1 for Germany) that earned them the knockout round ticket.

Spain Knockout Stage

Spain's first knockout stage match will be on Tuesday, Dec. 6 against Morocco — the winners of Group F.

Despite the teams' opposite fates in the group stage, Spain is actually a huge -390 favorite to advance, according to FanDuel Sportsbook's World Cup odds.

A win over Morocco would earn Spain a matchup over the winner of Portugal vs Switzerland in the quarterfinals of the knockout stage bracket.

Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

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