FIFA World Cup 2018 Update | Colombia, Japan reserve the last berths for round of 16

Colombia and Japan have advanced to the round of 16 at the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia on Thursday, completing the line-up the for the knockout stage.

At Samara, Colombian central defender Yerry Mina in the 74th minute scored the only goal in their final Group H fixture against Senegal.

In another match of the same group at Volgograd, Poland defeated Japan by 1-0, with the winning goal coming in the closing minutes. Despite the defeat, the Blue Samarai qualified for the last sixteen.

With Japan losing by a goal to Poland, the deciding factor was down to the number of yellow cards accumulated by the two teams, as both Senegal and Japan were tied on four points, and were level on goal difference, goals for and goals against.

The six bookings to Senegal's name, compared to Japan's four ensured that the latter became the only Asian side to qualify into the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup 2018. They advanced by finishing second in the group behind Colombia.

At Kaliningrad, Belgium beat England 1-0 to secure the top spot in Group G. Both the teams had already confirmed their places in the last Sixteen Round and the result only decided the group ranks.