Women's World Cup permutations: What do England and Scotland need to qualify?

England can top Group D, Scotland must win to progress

The Women’s World Cup group stages are coming to a close, with groups A and B decided on Monday night.

The remaining four groups will be decided over the coming days, with England’s progression to the knock-out stages already assured.

Phil Neville’s side can assure that they win Group D by beating Japan in Nice on Thursday night, though a draw will be enough to top the standings nonetheless.

Scotland’s task is less straightforward: they must beat Argentina in Paris and hope their goal difference sees them qualify as one of the best third-place teams.

Here, we take a look at the various permutations across all six groups ahead of the final games...

Group A

Group winners: France

Runners-up: Norway

Third-place, qualification pending: Nigeria

Eliminated: South Korea

Host nation France top Group A with a 100 per cent record and Norway tuck in behind as runners-up, having only suffered defeat to the hosts.

Nigeria must wait to discover their fate. The Super Falcons can still finish as one of the best third-place teams, though a -2 goal difference does not help their cause.

South Korea return home having lost all three of their World Cup group stage games for the second time in their history, and having also scored just one goal.

Group B

Group winners: Germany

Runners-up: Spain

Qualified in third place: China

Eliminated: South Africa

Germany take nine points and a perfect record into the knock-out stages from Group B, having finally hit their stride in their final game against eliminated South Africa.

Spain edged ahead of third-place China on goal difference after their stalemate on Monday, but both teams qualified as at least two third-place teams will not match their tallies of four points.

South Africa, who led Spain for a long spell in their opening game before eventually losing 3-1, were eliminated following their defeat to Germany in Montpellier.

Group C

Group winners: Italy

Runners-up: Australia

Qualified in third place: Brazil

Eliminated: Jamaica

The most hotly-contested group in the tournament finished with Italy out on top, despite their perfect start coming to an end with defeat against Brazil.

Marta and co. qualify as one of the best third-place teams, though a likely meeting with hosts France in the last 16 is less than ideal.

Australia progress to play Norway, the runners-up from France's group, after a roller-coaster of a group stage that ended with a dominant win over Jamaica.

Group D

Qualified: England, Japan

In the running: Argentina, Scotland

England and Japan have qualified and the winner of their meeting in Nice will win the group outright. If they draw, England will top Group D with seven points and Japan will be assured of second place.

Scotland sit bottom of Group D after two defeats in two games, with Shelley Kerr knowing her side must beat Argentina in Paris on Wednesday in order to progress.

The three points alone should be enough, so long as Scotland finish with a better goal difference record than Chile, Thailand, New Zealand and Cameroon.

Group E

Qualified: Netherlands, Canada

In the running: Cameroon, New Zealand

The Netherlands and Canada have qualified for the knock-out stages. The winner of their meeting in Reims on Thursday will top Group E and play the runners-up of England’s group.

Cameroon and New Zealand have both lost their opening two games, though Cameroon sit ahead of New Zealand by virtue of having actually scored a goal.

Both can still qualify for the last 16, but both have to win and hope the results of other teams aiming for third place fall in their favour.

Group F

Qualified: United States, Sweden

In the running: Chile, Thailand

The United States and Sweden have qualified for the knock-out stages. The winner of Group F will be decided in Le Havre on Thursday, with the victory set to play Spain in the last 16.

The situation in the lower half of the table is much like Group E, only worse. Chile and Thailand have lost both opening games and have poor goal difference totals.

If Chile can beat Thailand handsomely, they have a slim chance of progression. Thailand on the other hand are all but eliminated. They need to make up a -17 goal difference.