<p>The World Cup enters its next phase on Saturday (December 3) &#8211; here we profile the teams to target in the knockout stage and who&#8217;s most likely to get to the World Cup final.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/world-cup-fantasy-2022-tips-the-ultimate-guide"><strong>Ultimate Guide to World Cup Fantasy 2022: Everything you need to know</strong></a></li>
<li><a href="http://fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/world-cup-fantasy-2022-team-reveals/"><strong>Expert World Cup Fantasy team reveals</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Who&#8217;s playing who in the World Cup knockout stage?</h2>
<p>This is how the knockout stage shape up, with all eight groups now concluded.</p>
<p>The Netherlands and the USA kick-off the round of 16 at 15:00 on Saturday.</p>
<div id="attachment_51240" style="width: 723px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-51240" class="size-full wp-image-51240" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/World-Cup-knockouts.jpg" alt="" width="713" height="711" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/World-Cup-knockouts.jpg 713w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/World-Cup-knockouts-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/World-Cup-knockouts-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/World-Cup-knockouts-610x608.jpg 610w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/World-Cup-knockouts-440x440.jpg 440w" sizes="(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px" /><p id="caption-attachment-51240" class="wp-caption-text">World Cup knockout stage draw. Graphic: FIFA</p></div>
<h2></h2>
<h2>Who&#8217;s most likely to go through to the quarter-finals?</h2>
<p><a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-world-cup-predictions/bracket/?ex_cid=rrpromo">Five Thirty Eight</a> has used its detailed forecasting system to assess the probability of each team making it through each stage of the knockout rounds.</p>
<p>We can use this as a guide to plan which teams are the best to target in the round of 16 and beyond.</p>
<p>In order, it forecasts the percentage changes of progression to the quarters for each team as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li>Argentina &#8211; 88%</li>
<li>Brazil &#8211; 82%</li>
<li>France &#8211; 81%</li>
<li>Spain &#8211; 73%</li>
<li>England &#8211; 68%</li>
<li>Netherlands &#8211; 66%</li>
<li>Portugal &#8211; 61%</li>
<li>Croatia &#8211; 54%</li>
<li>Japan &#8211; 46%</li>
<li>Switzerland &#8211; 39%</li>
<li>USA &#8211; 34%</li>
<li>Senegal &#8211; 32%</li>
<li>Morocco &#8211; 27%</li>
<li>Poland &#8211; 19%</li>
<li>South Korea &#8211; 18%</li>
<li>Australia &#8211; 17%</li>
</ul>
<p>Brazil are comfortably favourites to reach the final. Their 26% probability is double that of Argentina, the next-likeliest on that side of the draw.</p>
<p>Loading up on South Americans could therefore keep fantasy managers with plenty of players at their disposal deep into the tournament if the football follows the script &#8211; but as we have seen so far, shock results are never too far away.</p>
<p>There are no clear candidates in the other half of the draw.</p>
<p>Spain &#8211; rated at 14% &#8211; are the most-fancied to reach the final, ahead of France on 12% and England on 9%.</p>
<p>Luis Enrique&#8217;s side, who play Morocco in the round of 16, have a 26% chance of reaching the semis, second only to Brazil in this regard at 42%.</p>
<p>A potential tie against neighbours Portugal in the quarter-finals could await, something to consider before packing squads with players from these nations.</p>
<p>Croatia, England, Morocco, Netherlands and the USA are the only five teams left in the competition who are unbeaten.</p>
<p>England have not picked up a single yellow card yet &#8211; the only team not to do so &#8211; which could bode well when it comes to avoiding <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/world-cup-fantasy-yellow-cards">suspensions</a>.</p>
<div id="attachment_51236" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-51236" class="size-full wp-image-51236" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Richarlison-World-Cup.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="669" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Richarlison-World-Cup.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Richarlison-World-Cup-300x196.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Richarlison-World-Cup-768x502.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Richarlison-World-Cup-610x399.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p id="caption-attachment-51236" class="wp-caption-text">Richarlison&#8217;s Brazil are the favourites to make the final</p></div>
<h2></h2>
<h2>World Cup Fantasy: Knockout stage rules</h2>
<p>Fantasy managers will have unlimited transfers between the end of the group stage and the start of the round of 16 to set up their team.</p>
<p>They will then be allowed four free transfers during the round of 16, five in the quarter-finals, five in the semi-finals and six in the final/third-place playoff stage.</p>
<p>Further transfers can be made at a cost of three points per transfer.</p>
<p>Those who do not require transfers mid-matchday to take out players who do not start could use them before the matchday is over to replace those who have been knocked out.</p>
<h3>Player limits</h3>
<p>Much like FPL, the group stage saw managers limited to picking a maximum of three players per nation.</p>
<p>This will increase in the knockout stage to four in the round of 16, five in the quarter-final, six in the semi-final and eight in the final.</p>
<p>Finally, in terms of scoring points, the rules do not appear to be clear if extra time and penalties count towards players&#8217; scores &#8211; except noting goalkeepers do not earn anything for saving shootout spot-kicks.</p>
<p>We believe points may continue to be accumulated in extra time &#8211; but not in the case of penalties.</p>
<h3>Budget</h3>
<p>In another change to the rules, managers will get a budget of $105m, up from the $100m in the groups.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Check out more World Cup and Premier League fantasy coverage</h2>
<p>As well as the official <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/world-cup-fantasy-2022-tips-the-ultimate-guide">FIFA World Cup Fantasy</a> game Ultimate Guide, we’ve got coverage on <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/sky-sports-fantasy-football-world-cup-2022-tips-the-ultimate-guide-2">Sky Sports Fantasy Football World Cup</a>, <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/dream-team-world-cup-2022-tips-the-ultimate-guide">Dream Team World Cup</a> and <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/telegraph-fantasy-football-world-cup-2022-tips-the-ultimate-guide">Telegraph Fantasy Football World Cup</a> too.</p>
<p>And either side of the World Cup, we have <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-ultimate-guide-fpl-tips">FPL</a>, <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/sky-fantasy-football-tips">Sky</a>, <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/category/sun-dream-team">Sun</a> and <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/category/telegraph">Telegraph</a> covered in-depth on a weekly basis.</p>
<p>Coupled with all our other cool features, including our multi-functional <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/my-team">My Team</a> tool, <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta">Opta</a> <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta" aria-label="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/">stats</a>, <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/predictions">predicted points</a>, <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-live-rank">live rank</a> and <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/tools">more</a>, Fantasy Football Hub is the place to be if you want to win your mini-leagues.</p>
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World Cup Fantasy: Teams to target in the knockout stage

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