Don’t worry, England WILL still play in the World Cup 2018 knockout games. After a staggering 6-1 victory over Panama in their second game of the tournament, the Three Lions have finished runners-up of Group G, despite that 1-0 loss against Belgium.
And this poses some important questions: who will England face in the next round? When will their matches be on TV? And was it really better to finish as runners-up rather than winners of their group?
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Well, here’s some good news for everyone working 9-5: no matter the scenario, all of England’s knockout matches will take place either on a weekend or at 7pm on a weekday.
Here are all the details you need…
Click here for our full guide to TV, online and radio coverage of World Cup 2018
What do England need to do to get in the knockout stages?
Nothing – they’ve now qualified.
Here are the final standings for Group G…
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| Belgium | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 |
| England | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Tunisia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 3 |
| Panama | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -9 | 0 |
Is it better England finished 2nd in their World Cup group?
Tricky question. On paper, finishing as runners-up provides a much easier draw. For the full permutations see below, but basically finishing as winners in the group would have meant a probable quarter-final against Brazil. As England finished as runners-up, Sweden or Switzerland await.
Football analyst Ben Mayhew predicted that the chances of reaching the semi-finals if England finished second were roughly 40 per cent. If they finished first, however, that figure dropped to 27 per cent.
I messed up the wording on this the first time, so here's a corrected version of how #ENG's #WorldCup chances are affected by finishing 1st or 2nd tonight.
Chances of reaching semi-finals drops from ~40% as runners-up to 27% as winners.
For the final it drops from ~20% to ~14%. pic.twitter.com/tYEufBQV11
— Ben Mayhew (@experimental361) June 28, 2018
But it looks like England manager Gareth Southgate didn’t actually aim to finish second in the group. He previously cautioned against attempting to be too canny with plotting a way through the knockouts – especially when it came down to asking his team not to try against Belgium.
“We have no idea who, when or where we will play,” he said at a recent press conference before the game. “We’re just pleased we’re in the next round. We’re building a team that everyone back home can see are passionate to play for England, that want to win every time they go out and are improving every time.
“We want to win. That would mean we top the group and then we can move forward. I go back to the fact we’re trying to develop a winning mentality and I can’t imagine a situation where I talk to the players about anything else. It just wouldn’t be authentic for what we’ve been trying to build for the last two years.”
Who will England play in the World Cup last 16 knockout stage?
After the group stage, England will head in the last 16 round. Although we can’t be sure which channel will broadcast the match, we do know the game will almost certainly air on ITV. The World Cup match split between the BBC and ITV means that the latter network gets the first pick of a round of 16 matches to broadcast.
England will play Colombia on Tuesday 3rd July at 7pm
A 1-0 victory from Colombia over Senegal, and a 1-0 win for Poland against Japan saw the final Group H table look like this…
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| Colombia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Japan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Senegal | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Poland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 3 |
Who could England play if they reach the World Cup quarter-finals?
The time and day of England’s quarter-final game will again depend on where they finish in the group and whether they make it through the round of 16.
If England do reach a quarter-final, the media match split means the game will almost certainly air on BBC1 – the broadcaster have the first two choices of quarter-final games.
If England win their round of 16 Match…
They’ll play Saturday 7th July at 3pm.
So, who would England’s opponents be in this scenario? Sweden (the winners of Group F) or Switzerland (the runners-up in Group E).
When will England play in the World Cup semi-final? Who could they play?
We like your optimism but guessing England’s opponents may be too much here, considering the unpredictability of the tournament. Assuming there are no more major upsets to come, this game might see England play the likes of Spain, Croatia, Denmark, or Russia.
What we can say, however, is that England’s semi-final is extremely likely to air on ITV, with the broadcaster having first dibs of the semi-final games.
If England win their quarter-final…
They’ll play Wednesday 11th July at 7pm. Check the full World Cup 2018 schedule here.
When is the World Cup final on TV?
Whether England make it all the way or not, the final will air on Sunday 15th July, 4pm from Moscow. The match will be broadcast on both ITV and BBC1.
When is the World Cup third-place play-off on TV?
The losers of both semi-final games will face off on Saturday 14th July, 3pm at St Petersburg. The match will air on ITV.
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