Football news - #knockout-stage

Lionel Messi scored six times in Group J, including a hat-trick against Algeria, to reach 19 career World Cup goals and lift defending champions Argentina to second in the post-group-stage power rankings.

ESPN's post-group-stage panel rank France No. 1 with 16 of 20 first-place votes after a perfect group and a 3-0 win over Sweden, with Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise driving the favourites.