Territorial Gain Index

Alright, more World Cup 2026-themed analysis here. This is a continuation of yesterday’s post, because I still had an “intellectual itch” that desperately needed scratching.Today, I finally managed to compile every nation eliminated during both the second-round group stage and the third-round group stage.group phase situationsFor every group, at least one nation is eliminated outright: the team finishing fourth. That raises an interesting question: who gets “credited” with eliminating that nation? Does every other team in the group share the credit?No.Only the nation that actually defeated them in a head-to-head match gets the elimination. Draws don’t count.The third-place scenario is much trickier.Four third-placed teams were eventually eliminated: Uruguay, Scotland, South Korea, and Iran.Uruguay is a special case. Although they finished third, they never really entered the race for the best third-placed teams because their point total was simply too low to compete with the other…