At football's World Cup Monday, host Brazil, Mexico, the Netherlands and Chile all advanced to the second round.
Brazil defeated winless Cameroon in the capital Brasilia, 4-1, to finish atop Group A with seven points. Mexico also finished with seven points after a 3-1 win over Croatia in Recife, but Brazil had a better goal differential (+X).
In Group B, the Netherlands got late goals from two substitute players to defeat Chile, 2-0, in Sao Paulo. Both reach the second round.
Netherlands' Memphis Depay, left, celebrates with teammate Arjen Robben after scoring his side's second goal during the group B World Cup soccer match between the Netherlands and Chile in Sao Paulo, June 23, 2014.
The Dutch topped the group with three wins from three matches. Chile had earlier defeated Australia and upset Spain. Defending champion Spain finished up with a 3-0 victory over Australia Monday in Curitiba, but both are headed home.
In the next round, Brazil will face Chile and the Netherlands will play Mexico.
In Sunday's late game, the U.S. Soccer team yielded a goal in the final minute to settle for a 2-2 draw against Portugal in Manaus. The U.S. and Germany both have four points in Group G, and both will advance if they play to a draw on Thursday. Portugal and Ghana each have one point and are still alive, though barely. They play one another Thursday and either would need a win to have a chance of advancing. If they draw, the U.S. and Germany would both reach the second round no matter what happens in their match.
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.
