Can someone explain how the World Cup works? (newb)

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What's the deal with the points? 1 for a draw and 3 for a win, right?

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Correct

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So why does Germany have more in the +/- column?

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That's not points, that is goal differential which is used as the first tiebreaker if multiple teams are tied in points. Example: Both Germany and USA won yesterday, but since Germany won 4-0 and USA won 2-1, Germany has a goal differential of +4 while USA is +1.

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How do we advance to the next stage and how does it work from there?

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After you play every team in your group once, the top two teams advance to the knockout stage, which is just a basic 16-team single elimination tournament.

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If we beat Portugal on Sunday do we pretty much advance?

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If we beat Portugal and Germany beats Ghana, we would have locked up a spot in the knockout stage and our final game against Germany would basically decide who wins the group.

If we beat Portugal, a draw between Germany and Ghana would also be good enough for us to advance. The points would look like this:

USA - 6
Germany - 4
Ghana - 1
Portugal - 0

Then Germany would be the only team who could catch us, and if they did, we'd advance as the runner-up anyway. Just as long as Ghana doesn't win, that would throw everything into chaos.

Sweet, guys I really appreciate this info. Everything I wanted to know.

I can say I know how it works now. I generally watch the World Cup, but after this I might be keeping up with things more.

Thanks dudes.