FIFA World Cup:Columbia, Japan enter last 16 to complete line up for knockout stage

Colombia and Japan advanced to the last sixteen round yesterday. Their progress also completed the line-up the for the knockout stage. 

At Samara, Colombia beat Senegal by a solitary goal in a Group H fixture. The all-important goal came through a powerful header from Barcelona's Yerry Mina in the 74th minute. 

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

Japan went



through by the slimmest margin, which was on the basis of their fair play record. 

Japan were ahead of Senegal despite identical points, goal difference and goals scored. 

But they had fewer yellow cards They advanced by finishing second in the group behind Colombia. 

At Kaliningrad, Belgium beat England 1-nil 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 placings.