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“Mexico, Sweden or Germany could go out of the tournament despite winning two of their group games,” notes Paul Blandon. “Has this ever happened before? And on the flip side, what are the worst-performing teams to get out of their group?”
Only one team has been eliminated after finishing third despite winning two of their group games: Algeria, whose loveable 1982 team were stitched up by West Germany and Austria. But this question is muddied slightly by the fact that, from 1986 to 1994, the four best third-placed teams also qualified for the last 16. Had only the top two teams in each group gone through, both Argentina and Belgium would have been eliminated in 1994 despite winning two of their three matches.
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