World Cup standings: Live updates for who will advance from Group E based on current results

The World Cup will add two teams from Group E by the close of business on Thursday afternoon, and it's still a fairly wide open group. Germany is the only side that can't win the group, but they still have a shot at claiming second place.

Germany will face Costa Rica on FS1 while Spain will play Japan on FOX, with kickoff set for both matches at 2 p.m. ET. Goal differential could get interesting between Germany and Japan in the event of a tie in the standings, but Spain and Costa Rica are likely fairly settled in their point differentials.

That being said, Germany could be in a position where they need to run up the score on Costa Rica. If Germany wins their match and Japan and Spain play to a draw, Germany could move past Japan with a mere two-goal victory. If Japan were to upset Spain, Germany would need upwards of a seven-goal victory over Costa Rica to be able to match Spain in the goal differential tiebreaker.

We'll update the standings as scores happen and the clinching scenarios resolve themselves. The bolded teams are the teams who will advance to the round of 16.

Pre-match standings

1. Spain, 1-1-0, 4 points, +7 GD, 8 GF, 1 GA
2. Japan, 1-0-1, 3 points, 0 GD, 2 GF, 2 GA
3. Costa Rica, 1-0-1, 3 points, -6 GD, 1 GF, 7 GA
4. Germany, 0-1-1, 1 point, -1 GD, 2 GF, 3 GA

  
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