Day 15 Recaps: Colombia Top Group, Japan Back Into Next Round, Belgium Finishes Ahead of England

The last Group H were played simultaneously. One match was Japan-Poland, Japan needing either a point or a Colombia win or tie in the other game. Japanese coach Akira Nishino took a huge risk by benching 6 of his regular starters. Japan lacked their usual attacking flair and the best chance in the opening half came from Poland, when Kamil Grosicki's shot was stopped by a diving Eiji Kawashima, Japan's keeper. In the 59th minute, Poland's Raful Kurzawa had a free kick that Jan Bednarek struck home from close range to give Poland their first lead of the tournament. In the 81st, Japan nearly scored on themselves, with Kawashima blocking a deflection from a low cross. Japan then passed the ball around freely to waste the time off, hoping a narrow loss coupled with a win in the other game would send them through.

As the Japan-Poland went on, Senegal and Colombia played against each other, both needing at least a point to go through. In the 10th minute, Juan Quintero had a free kick stopped by a sprawling Khadim N'Diaye, the keeper of Senegal. Sadio Mane fell down in the box to cause a PK in the 17th, only for VAR to reverse the call. Colombian superstar James Rodriguez then got hurt a half hour in, and had to get subbed off. Colombia got their breakthrough in the 74th, when Yerry Mina's header from a corner went in near post. Senegal, needing to get a point to move on to send Japan to 3rd place, couldn't find any chances to land in the net. With Senegal and Japan both tied with 4 points each and level in all the six main tiebreakers, Japan advanced based off fair play points, with Japan earning two fewer yellow cards than Senegal. Colombia won Group H with the 1-0 result.

With Group H done, the final 16 was set, as both Belgium and England qualified in Group G, fighting for the top spot in their match. Youri Tielsman of Belgium had a shot from 25 yards out pushed away by English keeper Jordan Pickford, and in the 10th minute Gary Cahill cleared the ball off the line after Michy Batshuayi poked out a loose ball out of Pickford's grasp. Then, in the 27th, Trent Alexandar-Arthur cleared the ball off the line from Marouane Fellaini's shot following a Belgium corner. In the 50th, Belgium finally broke through, as Adnan Januzaj curled a ball around forward Danny Rose, hitting the top-far corner to give Belgium the lone goal. The best chance for England came when Marcus Rashford had an one-on-one encounter with Thibaut Courtois, whose shot was deflected wide by Courtois in the 66th. Dries Mertens had a go at it from far, but Pickford dove to block the ball. All in all, Belgium clinched first and will play Japan. England will play England next.

Panama and Tunisia hoped to end their World Cup campaign on a high note. In the 19th minute, Tunisia's Yassine Meriah's header forced a diving save by Panama's keeper Jaime Penedo. Panama would open the scoring in the 33rd, when a long shot by Jose Luis Rodriguez deflected off Tunisian centerback Meriah, fooling keeper Aymen Mathlouthi, who went the wrong way. Tunisia nearly equalized at the half's end, when Wahbi Khazri's shot was blocked by Penedo, and defender Roman Torres cleared it before the ball could be tapped in. Tunisia did knot the score at 1 in the 51st, when Fakhreddine Ben Youssef tapped in a low cross from Khazri. 2 minutes later, Youssef nearly got a brace when one-on-one with Penedo, who stopped the shot with his foot. Khazri would tap in Tunisia's 2nd goal in the 66th when Oussama Haddadi set him up with a low cross. Panama could find another goal, and left their first World Cup without a point.

Batshuayi celebrated his team's goal by hitting the ball off the post, which in turn hit his face.