Updates and highlights from the last day of World Cup group stages

You’ve heard it. If you’ve had even the faintest contact with England fans over the course of this World Cup, you’ve have heard it. Maybe you saw it online, floating around Twitter, jammed into every meme going. Maybe you heard it offline, in the real world, being sung from the white-and-red crowds in Russian stadiums and squares, or in England’s pubs and parks.

Either way, you’ve been told: “It’s coming home. It’s coming home. It’s coming. Football’s coming home.”

Well, that was certainly a game of soccer. Belgium beat England 1-0 on Thursday in the final set of matches of the group stage, in a game that I will not be telling my grandchildren about. Or maybe I will, if I’m telling them about the time I saw a really boring soccer match.

The win means that Belgium win the group, and are thus placed in a very difficult side of the bracket along with Brazil, Mexico, France, Argentina, Uruguay and Portugal. Though their opening game is against Japan, a team they will hope to beat.

The last day of group stage action in the 2018 World Cup didn’t see many goals, but it did see very meaningful ones as England, Belgium, Colombia, and Japan all earned their place in the knockout rounds. But which goals stood out as the best? That kind of question is what we’re here for.

This was initially credited to Jose Luis Rodriguez, in which case it would be ranked a lot higher, but then it was given as an own goal, and while Own Goal is the best player at the 2018 World Cup, we do not celebrate his accomplishments.

The group stage of the World Cup is over, with the final games before the knockout rounds on Thursday.

Here are all the scores and goals as Groups G and H wrapped up.

You’re not here to do math. You’re watching the World Cup to see beautiful goals and cheer on your favorite teams.

Of course, the final days of the group stage don’t care about that.

When Senegal’s Sadio Mane went down in the box, I thought there was no way it wasn’t a penalty.

Colombia’s Davinson Sanchez was beaten. He had no angle on the ball. He went to ground, and then Mane went to ground. The ref called a penalty, because it had to be a penalty. Then he went to VAR video replay to check.

Today in the World Cup: a massive game that both teams would secretly both like to lose.

England and Belgium face off in the final game of Group H, both sitting on six points and already through to the last 16. Whoever wins will finish atop the group, and go into the side of the draw that includes a likely quarterfinal against Brazil. The loser will be on the other side of the bracket, where they would face a quarter-final against either Sweden or Switzerland.

Belgium’s last loss came in a friendly against Spain back in September of 2016. Since then, the Belgians are undefeated over their last 20 games, amassing a 15-5-0 record over that stretch. The team will try to earn another win this Thursday when it meets England in the two teams’ final match of the group stage.

Belgium is a slight underdog at +190 to defeat England at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. England is going off as a +160 favorite to win the match while a draw between the two teams would pay +210.