¡¡BERLIN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A total of eight teams have secured the berths to the knockout stage of the World Cup with another seven having been eliminated.

    In Group A, Ecuador and hosts Germany have qualified for the next round along with England (Group B), Argentina and Netherlands (Group C), Portugal (Group D), Brazil (Group F) and Spain (Group H).

    Those who have suffered exits include Poland and Costa Rica (Group A), Paraguay (Group B), Cote d'Ivoire and Serbia & Montenegro (Group C), Iran (Group D) and Togo (Group G).

    Pre-tournament favorites such as France and Italy still need to fight for survival.

    Italy cannot afford any slipup against Czech Republic in Group E and France are in danger of elimination. Enditem