World Cup news and highlights

Portugal takes on Switzerland in the final Round of 16 match that will decide the last team that will advance to the quarterfinals of World Cup 2022.

The Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will begin the game on the bench as a substitute.

Here are today's starting lineups:

Portugal

Goalkeeper: Diogo Costa

Defenders: Diogo Dalot, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Raphael Guerreiro

Midfielders: Bernardo Silva, William, Otavio

Forwards: Bruno Fernandes, Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos

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Switzerland

Goalkeeper: Yann Sommer

Defenders: Edimilson Fernandes, Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez, Fabian Schaer

Midfielders: Remo Freuler, Granit Xhaka, Mohameth Sow, Ruben Vargas, Xherdan Shaqiri

Forwards: Breel Embolo

The knockout stages are filled with extra tension this tournament for Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo as he seeks to win football’s biggest trophy with his country in what is likely to be his last World Cup ever.

His side will line up at the Lusail Stadium as the slight favorite against Switzerland in its round of 16 match, but the Portuguese have already suffered a surprise defeat in Qatar.

Portugal seemed to be cruising through the group stages, defeating Ghana and Uruguay to confirm a spot in the knockout stages with a match to spare but succumbed to a shock defeat against South Korea in the last group stage match, after Hwang Hee-chan scored a 91st-minute winner off a Son Heung-min pass.

Despite this, Portugal will be buoyed by the expected return of midfielder Otávio who has missed the last two games with a thigh injury as well as star defender Rúben Dias who was rested against the Taegeuk Warriors.

Switzerland, meanwhile, navigated a difficult group with victories against Cameroon and Serbia seeing them through to the knockout stages despite a loss to Brazil.

The last time the two sides met was in the Nations League in June when Portugal dismantled Switzerland 4-0 in Lisbon. However, Switzerland then recovered to win the return fixture 1-0 a week later.

“For me, it is gonna be totally different because there is no friendly game. This is no Nations League – the pressure is high, and so now, it’s important how the players deal with this pressure,” Switzerland midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri said on Sunday, according to Reuters.

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Morocco makes history!

It secured a spot in the quarterfinals for the first time in its history after beating Spain in a shootout. It's also the first time that an Arab country has made it into the quarterfinals.

The Moroccan goalkeeper saved three shots from Spain — along with an innumerable number of attacks on his goal from La Furia Roja during 120 minutes of play — to give a fighting chance to the Atlas Lions to advance to the quarter finals.

Then Abdelhamid Sabiri, Hakim Ziyech and Achraf Hakimi all buried the ball in the back of the net, shooting it past Unai Simón to earn an entry in the World Cup 2022 quarterfinals.

After 90 minutes of regulation and two 15-minute periods of extra time, Morocco and Spain's Round of 16 match will be decided by a shootout.

How it works: Each team was given the chance to take five penalty kicks, and whoever scored the most won.

Here's a look at how the shootout went down:

Morocco

Kick 1: ⚽️ Abdelhamid Sabiri 

Kick 2: ⚽️ Hakim Ziyech

Kick 3: ❌ Badr Benoun

Kick 4: ⚽️ Achraf Hakimi

Kick 5: Not needed

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Spain

Kick 1: ❌ Pablo Sarabia

Kick 2: ❌ Carlos Soler

Kick 3: ❌ Sergio Busquets

Kick 4: Not needed

Kick 5: Not needed

There's fatigue on the pitch now, without any moments of elation yet.

It's the end of two 15-minute periods, which gave Morocco and Spain extra time to take the lead and advance to the quarterfinals. However, since neither teams scored, and the match remains tied at 0-0, the outcome of this game will be decided via penalty shootouts.

Each team will get to take five penalty kicks. Whoever scores the most wins. If they tie, we go to sudden death.

Spain and Morocco are battling it out in the last 15 minutes of extra time in the second period.

If it's still tied after this period, the teams will take penalty kicks to decide who moves on to the quarterfinals.

The first 15-minute period of extra time has come to an end with no scores to show again on either side.

Morocco and Spain still stand at 0-0.

The Atlas Lions and La Furia Roja have kicked off extra time.

It's the second match of the tournament to need more than the 90 minutes of regulation play to decide the winner. The first was Croatia vs Japan.

Here's how this will work: Because neither team could find the winner before the end of full-time, they'll now play two 15-minute periods of extra time.

If still tied after that, the teams will take penalty kicks to decide who moves on to the quarterfinals.

Morocco has sound defense to keep Spain at bay, but the Atlas Lions have been unable to hold possession of the ball whenever they had opportunity to put up a concerted and relentless attack in the Spanish half.

The result: The two teams played a scoreless match for the entire 90 minutes.

Which means now, we go into extra time.

What happens now: Because neither team could score before the end of full-time, they'll now play two 15-minute periods of extra time. If still tied after that, then the teams will take penalty kicks to decide who moves on to the quarterfinals.