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England and Belgium now know that they must finish runners-up in Group G if they are to avoid a possible quarterfinal meeting with Brazil.

They go into the final group match with identical records, but England are first by virtue of receiving one fewer yellow card. The winners of the game are guaranteed to top the group, but if the match finishes as a draw the places will be decided first on fair play.

Brazil secured top spot in Group E on Wednesday evening, and that puts them on the same course to the semifinals as the winners of Group G.

Whoever wins Group G will face either Colombia, Japan or Senegal in the round of 16 before then meeting Mexico or Brazil in the quarterfinals.

The runners-up in the group, however, will have the same possible opponents in the round of 16 but then either Sweden or Switzerland in the last eight -- on paper at least a more favourable path to the final. Added to that, the first tie is to be played on Tuesday, an extra 24 hours rest compared to the group winners who play on Monday.

GROUP G WINNERS
Round of 16: Colombia, Japan or Senegal
Quarterfinals: Mexico or Brazil
Semifinals: Uruguay, Portugal, France or Argentina

GROUP G RUNNERS-UP
Round of 16: Colombia, Japan or Senegal
Quarterfinals: Sweden or Switzerland
Semifinals: Spain, Russia, Croatia or Denmark

- Click here to view the full tournament bracket

Of course, fans of both Belgium and England could be accused of getting carried away. After all, they must negotiate a round-of-16 tie before they get to the quarterfinals.

If the match is a draw and places decided on fair play, England's score is -2 and Belgum's -3. FIFA deducts points from the fair play ranking based on the following criteria (each player can score minus points in one category in a game):

Yellow card: minus-1
Red card for two cautions: minus-3
Straight red card: minus-4
Yellow card and straight red card: minus-5

If the two teams also finish level on fair play, there will be a random draw for positions, which Republic of Ireland and Netherlands had to do in 1990 (the Irish were drawn second and the Dutch third).

Source: espn.co.uk

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