After two days of brilliant football and surprises, FIFA World Cup 2018 Round of 16 is ready for the third day of knockout action. While firm favourites Brazil lock horns with underdogs Mexico, Belgium face a dangerous Japan in the matches on Monday.
Here's the schedule of the matches on Monday, July 2 in FIFA World Cup 2018:
Match: Brazil v/s Mexico
Venue: Samara Arena
Time: 7:30 pm IST (1930 hrs)
Brazil play their first Round of 16 match as one the favorites to hoist the trophy in Russia.
Brazil and Mexico are the only two teams to advance past the group stage in seven consecutive World Cups.
Despite advancing out of the group stage in the previous six World Cups, Mexico has failed to reach the quarterfinal in any of those tournaments. In fact, El Tri has won only one knockout game ever at the World Cup.
Brazil, meanwhile, advanced past the group stage of the World Cup for the 13th consecutive time. And Brazil enters Monday's match against Mexico having won 19 of its 24 matches under manager Tite.
Match: Belgium v/s Japan
Venue: Rostov Arena
Time: 11:30 pm IST (2330 hrs)
Group G toppers Belgium will be heavily favored against Group H runner-up Japan in their Round of 16 match in Rostov-on-Don.
Belgium overwhelmed Panama and Tunisia by a combined score of 8-2 and then pulled out a 1-0 victory against England to claim the top spot.
However, Japan has exceeded expectations in group play and could be a tough out in the knockout stage. Japan knocked off eventual Group H champion Colombia and then tied Senegal before falling 1-0 to Poland. They became the first team to qualify for Round of 16 based on Fair Play.
Belgium and Japan have met once before at the World Cup finals when Japan were hosts in 2002.
On 4 June in Saitama, Japan and Belgium drew 2-2, as Japan became the first Asian host country to play a World Cup match.
