I never thought I would do this overnight, but I decided to do a Knockout Stage preview with my own concept with the tournament bracket. I doubt anyone would use this, but I added a little flavor that’s like college basketball. Each bracket has its own region that leads to their respective quarterfinal locations prior to the semifinals.

We move on to the knockout stage that has a whopping 32 teams competing in the knockout stage than the usual 16 teams. More teams have more opportunities to be successful and the lesser tier teams should be excited about their opportunity to go the distance (while adding more cash for their small country’s future). Since I don’t have more than a few hours to do this before the first knockout stage, I will preview all four regions in a pinch. Enjoy the games if you’re a soccer or sports fan and have a great rest of the tournament.

THE ROAD TO ARLINGTON

EAST BRACKET (FOXBOROUGH)

This section of the bracket presents the toughest of the knockout stages. Germany and France seem like an inevitable Round of 16 matchup. We must wish the winner of Canada/South Africa good luck as they are dealt a difficult hand against the winner of the Netherlands/Morocco matchup. We might be in for a gauntlet run to Foxborough in the Quarterfinals, which makes the road to Atlanta a daunting task.

WEST BRACKET (INGLEWOOD)

The West section is almost as difficult as the East section. Portugal, Croatia, Spain, and even the US have control in this bracket. However, we can’t sleep on Senegal, Belgium, or Bosnia & Herzegovina. They may present as much of a problem as the rest and upsets where the US resides at could be possible. What about Austria? Ironically, they defeated Spain before while never losing a knockout match until the semifinals twice. That likely end unless Austria plays like their 1930s and 1950s self and figures out how to slow down the uber-talented Spanish squad.

THE ROAD TO ATLANTA

SOUTH BRACKET (MIAMI GARDENS)

It seems like the quarterfinal matchup could be Brazil vs either Mexico or England. However, we can’t be 100% sold as each of them has a weakness. Brazil has recently struggled against tough European competition in the past few World Cups. Mexico may be good, but they’ve bowed out of the Round of 16 (or 1st round of knockout stage) 7 straight times before exiting the Group Stage in 2022. England had us fooled after Game 1 believing they could make a deep run again, and now we don’t know if they’re actually legit. In comes Japan, Ivory Coast, Norway, Ecuador, and even Congo DR that could present a huge problem to these favorites.

MIDWEST BRACKET (KANSAS CITY)

It’s either Argentina or the field. I don’t influence bets, but if we’re calling it like we’re seeing it, Argentina’s potentially the favorite over the field in this section. And then there’s Switzerland and Australia, who have shown themselves out of the 1st knockout match on multiple occasions. Colombia could likely collide with Argentina in a Copa America finals rematch. We had the Rams/Seahawks rematch in the NFC championship and the Knicks/Spurs rematch from the NBA Cup in the NBA Finals. Why not this one? Well, four African teams like Egypt, Cape Verde, Ghana, and Algeria occupy this section (most in World Cup history), and they all have their separate matchups that could turn into an all-African Midwest section in the Round of 16. This guarantees an African team in the semifinals in back-to-back World Cups. That would be the wildest thing to ever happen in World Cup history.