"The Internet has yet to mature as a political tool," intoned Carl Cameron of Fox News last summer as he reported that the runner-up group to Dean supporters on the meetup.com site was witches.
Fixtures: 12 June, Brazil v Croatia, 21 00; 19 June, Uruguay v England, 20 00; 23 June, Netherlands v Chile, 17:00; 26 June, South Korea v Belgium, 21 00; 1 July, Second-round, Winner Group F v Runner-up Group E, 17:00; 9 July, Semi-final, Winner Quarter-final 3 v Winner Quarter-final 4, 21 00.
Italy were runners up in Group C. Their opening game was a 1-1 drawithth Spain.
Greece finished runners up in Group B. They started their campaign with a 1-1 drawiththoststs Poland.
Newcastle, who were runners up in Group D, have reached the round of 32 for the first time since the competition became the Europa League.
The runners up in Group B – and Wales have enough about them to be confident of eking out sufficient insurance with assertive performances against Slovakia and Russia – will have an immediate appointment with the second placed team in the group featuring Portugal, Austria, Iceland and Hungary.
The winners of Brazil's Group A play the runners-up in Group B on Saturday, while the second-placed team in Group A meet the Group B winners the following day.
The second-place team in Group 6 will meet the runner-up in Group 3, where four nations have a chance to qualify.
In contrast, the team that comes second in Group E will face the runner-up of Group F, which is likely to be either Sweden or Canada.
The winner of Group One will face the runner-up of Group Two, and vice versa, in Thursday's semi-finals with two players contesting a £935,000 first prize in Friday's final.
England, if they finish runners-up in Group F, will meet the second-placed team in Group B in Genoa in the second phase.
