It has been a memorable tournament so far for Sunderland’s World Cup stars

Sunderland's World Cup cohort enjoyed a memorable night as Nilson Angulo was the latest to get on the scoresheet for Ecuador.

It was a famous night for the winger and his country, as they beat Germany 2-1 to unexpectedly seal their place in the knockout round. Angulo delivered a statement performance, scoring a fine goal from range and being named the player of the match. England are one of Ecuador's potential opponents in the next round. The 23-year-old's form will be seen as a huge positive by Sunderland, who are hopeful he can make a big impact next season having had time to adjust and recover from an injury since his move from Anderlecht in January.

Brian Brobbey meanwhile continued his stellar form for the Netherlands, scoring again and being named man of the match in their 3-1 win over Tunisia. The result saw Netherlands secure their place as group F winners, and it has now been confirmed that they will face Morocco in the round of 32 next week. To complete a positive day for Sunderland's cohort at the tournament, Omar Alderete's Paraguay drew 0-0 with Australia to confirm their place in the final 32 as one of the best third-place qualifiers. Alderete was once again a crucial player for Paraguay, though he has suffered an injury scare in the latter stages of the game and will now be assessed to establish the severity of the issue.

Though Simon Adingra was an unused substitute in Ivory Coast's final group game, their 2-0 win over Curacao means they will also progress to the knockout round. Remarkably, Sunderland have now had four different scorers at the World Cup - a tally bettered only by Ligue 1 Champions PSG. Their overall tally of six goals is bettered only by Real Madrid's nine.

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So far, only Wilson Isidor will be exiting the competition after the group stage. While that will likely mean many players miss the start of the club's pre-season programme, the club are being compensated around $5,000 by FIFA for each individual player every day they are at the tournament.

It's a big game for Habib Diarra's Senegal on Friday night, who need to beat Iraq to give themselves a chance of progressing as one of the best third-place teams. Noah Sadiki and Arthur Masuaku also need a positive result against Uzbekistan on Sunday morning if DR Congo are to progress.

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