World Cup what to know: Round of 32 heats up with Brazil-Japan, Netherlands-Morocco

The World Cup's knockout stage is already providing some premier matchups in the round of 32.

It's part of a bracket that features an easier road for some teams than others.

There are three games on Monday, starting with Brazil vs. Japan in Houston. The Brazilians — who won Group C — are five-time World Cup champions but face a tough opponent in Japan, which is ranked No. 17 in the world. The Japanese finished second in Group F with one win and two draws.

Group E winner Germany faces Paraguay in the day's second game. Germany scored 10 goals in the group stage, which was tied for the most of any team. Paraguay bounced back from a 4-1 loss to the United States by beating Turkey and fighting to a draw with Australia to narrowly qualify for the knockout stage after finishing third in Group D.

The nightcap is a matchup of top-10 teams when the Netherlands faces Morocco. The Dutch are often considered the best country to never win a World Cup, while Morocco has jumped into soccer's elite over the past few years after a surprise run to the 2022 World Cup semifinals in Qatar.

— Brazil vs. Japan, 1 p.m. EDT in Houston (Fox/Telemundo/Peacock)

— Germany vs. Paraguay, 4:30 p.m. EDT in Foxborough, Massachusetts (Fox/Telemundo/Peacock)

— Netherlands vs. Morocco, 9 p.m. EDT in Monterrey, Mexico (Fox/Telemundo/Peacock)

These countries have extremely strong ties with Brazil being home to about 2.7 million Japanese descendants, which is the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.

Those ties extend to soccer where Brazilian superstar Zico moved to Japan in 1991 to play for the Kashima Antlers and help build Japan’s professional soccer network. He managed the Japan national team from 2002-06, leading the team to the World Cup in 2006.

It was in that World Cup where these teams had their first and only meeting in the tournament with Brazil notching a 4-1 victory.

Brazil leads the overall series with 11 wins. The teams have played to two draws and Japan collected its first-ever win over Brazil in a friendly in Tokyo in October. Japan trailed 2-0 at halftime before rallying for the 3-2 victory.

Coach Hajime Moriyasu thinks that win will impact how Brazil approaches his team Monday.

“They will be so much more motivated to play against us,” he said. “They are intent on winning against us. Because of that we feel that the match will be very intense.”

The winner will face the winner of Ivory Coast-Norway on July 5 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Germany is back in the knockout round for the first time since the 2014 final in Brazil when the Germans beat Argentina 1-0 to capture their fourth World Cup title.

Leading those hopes will be coach Julian Naglesmann. At 38 years and 341 days old on Monday, he will be the youngest manager in the knockout round since France’s Henri Michel in the 1986.

Paraguay has appeared in five knockout stage games, but has failed to score in each. It advanced only once in those games, winning on penalty kicks against Japan in the round of 16 in 2010.

“They play very defensive football," Naglesmann said of Paraguay. "They are an uncomfortable opponent for us and it’s going to ask a lot of us.”

Paraguay is expected to be without defender Omar Alderete, who is doubtful with a knee injury he suffered in the second half of its 0-0 draw against Australia. Jose Canale is expected to start in his place.

“This will be a match all about details," Paraguay captain Gustavo Gómez said. "We need to be concentrated to compete to take advantage of all the opportunities we might have.”

The winner will face the winner of France and Sweden on July 4 in Philadelphia.

Monday night’s matchup between the Netherlands and Morocco will be the highest ranked match in the round of 32.

The Netherlands — ranked No. 7 — topped Group F after a draw against Japan and big wins over Sweden and Tunisia. Sixth-ranked Morocco fought to a 1-1 draw against Brazil in its opener before beating Scotland and Haiti to finish second in Group C.

The Netherlands have long held the moniker of the best never to have won the tournament, having lost all three finals it played. The Dutch’s most recent final loss was to Spain in extra time in 2010, which was also the last time the Netherlands lost a World Cup game in 120 minutes.

The Dutch haven’t lost in six previous World Cup matches against African countries.

In 2022, Morocco defeated Spain and Portugal to become the first African team to reach the semifinals of the World Cup before losing to France. The Atlas Lions were also declared winners of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2025.

“The team is of course very well prepared,” Morocco’s goalkeeper Yassine Bounou said. “We will face whatever comes in the 90 (minutes), 120 (minutes) or penalty kicks. We have great football players and the experience to face these things.”

The Netherlands beat Morocco 2-1 in 1994, which was the only other World Cup meeting between the two.

The winner will face Canada in the round of 16 on Saturday in Houston.

— Iran narrowly knocked out of tumultuous World Cup on Austria’s last-second goal

— Messi becomes first to score in 7 straight World Cup games while extending goals record

— Austria, Algeria trade goals in stoppage time, both advance at World Cup with stunning 3-3 draw

— Money can’t buy success in World Cup for gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar

— Canada beats South Africa 1-0 in World Cup’s first knockout match on late goal by Stephen Eustáquio

— World Cup Day 18, in photos

— Canada won its first World Cup knockout round game and advanced to the round of 16 for the first time.

— Nine out of 10 African countries advanced to the knockout round of this year's World Cup, which is by far the continent's most ever. Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cape Verde, Egypt, DR Congo, Algeria all made it to the round of 32. Tunisia was the only country eliminated after the group stage.

AP Sports Writers Kyle Hightower, Dave Skretta and Kristie Rieken, along with Maya Koluder-Ramirez and Ethan Wilcox, who are students in the University of Georgia's Carmical Sports Media Institute, contributed to this report.

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Ecuador's Pervis Estupinan, right, and Germany's Jonathan Tah vie for the ball during the World Cup Group E soccer match between Ecuador and Germany in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Morocco's Chadi Riad (18) and Redouane Halhal (25) celebrate the team's win during the World Cup Group C soccer match between Morocco and Haiti in Atlanta, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)

Member of the Japanese national team work out during a training session in Houston, Sunday, June 28, 2026, ahead of their round of 32 FIFA World Cup soccer game against Brazil. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Netherlands fans celebrate a win during the World Cup Group F soccer match between Tunisia and the Netherlands in Kansas City, Mo., Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Brazil's Neymar (10) celebrates after the World Cup Group C soccer match between Scotland and Brazil in Miami Gardens, Fla., Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — A mix of rescue teams and civilians on Sunday peered at a mountain of rubble almost indistinguishable from the other ruins lining swathes of the northern Venezuelan coast following two devastating earthquakes.

In the days since Wednesday's 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, search teams and locals had believed that there were no signs of life under the concrete mass in La Guaira state, one of the hardest-hit areas.

Then on Sunday came a burst of movement. A pair of dust-coated legs was pulled out of a hole by rescue teams from Virginia, France and Venezuela.

Teams gently carried the man from the structure where he had been trapped for four days, his body slack but still gripping his phone, onto a black tarp and administered an IV.

Then came his young son, pulled shirtless and almost unresponsive over a pack of hard-hat clad rescue workers with the words “Fairfax County Urban Search & Rescue” emblazoned on the backs.

“Slow, slow, gentle, gentle,” chanted rescue teams in a mix of Spanish and English, as they passed the father and son through a crowd of onlookers into a nearby ambulance.

The teams burst out into applause days into search and rescue efforts, at a time that hope of finding survivors was dimming.

Associated Press journalists Juan Pablo Arraez and Matías Delacroix were among the throng of people who witnessed the rescue.

On Sunday, Arraez said they were scouring the La Guaira region “trying to see if we can see any miracles” when they found the U.S. rescue teams and local civilians calmly working to pull the father and son out of the building.

“At this stage many begin to lose hope. You see that in their faces,” Arraez said, as helicopters flew overhead. “When somebody makes it out alive, this father and son. It’s more than a glimpse, it’s real hope for people.”

The one-two punch of the earthquakes has been the greatest natural disaster the South American nation has faced in decades.

Authorities reported 1,450 people were dead on Sunday, with thousands more injured and many more missing.

The first 48 to 72 hours after a natural disaster are crucial to rescue efforts, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water.

But small moments of optimism, solidarity and humanity like this have cut through almost overwhelming grief.

Venezuelan firefighters poured water into the mouth of a dust-covered dog peeking its head through cracks in the concrete.

After being trapped for 70 hours, one woman sat up on a stretcher, grinning and waving at cheering crowds as she was loaded on a gurney into an ambulance.

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Associated Press photojournalist Matías Delacroix contributed to this report.

U.S. firefighters from the Fairfax County pull a survivor from the rubble of a building that collapsed in the earthquakes in La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

U.S. firefighters from the Fairfax County search and rescue team pull a boy from the rubble after rescuing him and his father from a building that collapsed in the earthquakes in La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Relief workers carry a man rescued from a building that collapsed in the earthquakes that struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A person removed from the rubble by members of the French Civil Security Training and Intervention Regiment (UIISC 7), U.S. rescuers and others is carried on a stretcher to an ambulance along the coast in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026, after earthquakes. (Miguel Medina, Pool photo via AP)

Rescue workers carry a man rescued from the rubble of a building that collapsed in the earthquakes that struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Sunday, June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)