Everyone was curious about the rematch of the memorable duel from the 2010 World Cup between Ghana and Uruguay.
The Africans started this game as they ended the last 12 years ago, with a missed penalty.
As it turns out, goalkeepers have saved a remarkable 42% of penalty kicks in this year's tournament.
Uruguay's two goals within six minutes of the first half decided the game in the end as they went on to win 2-0.
Both goals were scored by midfielder Giorgian de Arrascaeta, who played an outstanding game and became the first Uruguayan since 1950 to score twice in the first half of a World Cup match.
Despite the scoreline, it was a very even match statistically, in which Uruguay ended their long wait for a World Cup goal, as they were the only country in the tournament yet to score prior to the match.
Diego Alonso's team did everything they could to advance to the Round of 16 but needed a little help from Portugal as well.
See Ghana vs Uruguay at Flashscore
Portugal came up against South Korea with their youngest starting eleven at a World Cup since 1966, during the legendary Eusebio's last game at the tournament.
The team built around Cristiano Ronaldo may well have paid the price for that inexperience as they failed to hold on to an early one-goal lead and South Korea turned the match back in their favour. Hwang Hee-Chan scored in injury time after some Son Heung-min magic.
As you can see, Son Heung Min only made 13 successful passes in the whole game, but he saved the best one for the very end. Four of Korea's last seven goals at the World Cup have come in injury time, and their popular captain has led Korea to their first progression to the Round of 16 since 2010.
Portugal played the entire match with Pepe and Antonio Silva as their centre-back pairing, the former being the oldest defender at the tournament and the latter, the youngest ever. When Pepe made his professional football debut, Silva wasn't even born yet.
See South Korea vs Portugal at Flashscore
The richest duel of the day in terms of goals was that between Switzerland and Serbia. It was 2-2 going into the break and for the first time at a World Cup since 1998, and in the match between England and Argentina, both teams scored at least two goals in the first half.
Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland became the third player to score in all of the last three World Cups. As for the other two players, well, I think you can guess who they are. Remo Freuler 48th minute goal made it 3-2 and secured victory for the Swiss who progress to the Round of 16 as a result.
The Serbian team's failure at the tournament, finishing last in the group with just one point, was mainly due to their poor defensive performances.
Despite goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic making 16 successful saves in the tournament, Serbia conceded 8 goals in 3 games. Only Costa Rica conceded more.
See Serbia vs Switzerland at Flashscore
Brazil made nine changes to the starting line-up from their last game in their concurrent match against Cameroon, including 39-year-old Dani Alves, who became the oldest player ever to play for Brazil at a World Cup.
Only one goal was scored in the match and it came at the very end courtesy of Cameroon's captain Vincent Aboubakar, who was then shown a second yellow for taking off his jersey in celebration. He became the first player since 2006 to score in a match and then be sent off. The last player to do so, was Zinedine Zidane.
Brazil thus lost in the group stage for the first time since 1998 despite dominating the match and recorded over 2 expected goals. Their loss also means that no team in Qatar managed a perfect group stage of three wins from three.
See Cameroon vs Brazil at Flashscore
So, Samuel Eto'o's brave pre-tournament prediction that Cameroon would meet Morocco in the final will sadly not happen but the Wold cup must and will go on.
A lot of the pre-tournament favourites are still alive and there are a few surprises in there too, the drama is only really just getting going.
All the world’s eyes are on the world cup and you can follow all the action on Qatar Data.
