The FIFA Women’s World Cup started a couple weeks ago with the initial group stage. Top women’s soccer squads such as the US, France, England, and Germany swept through their groups taking advantage of overmatched squads like Thailand and South Africa.
The US, in particular, set a world cup record for most goals scored in a single game in their 13-0 beatdown of Thailand. Alex Morgan scored 5 of those goals alone.
This week marked the beginning of the knockout stage with win-or-go-home propositions for the remaining 16 teams (top two finishers in each of the six groups plus four third place teams). The bracket for the remainder of the tournament updated as of yesterday is posted below.
The Norway/Australia matchup was the first of the tournament to go into extra time and penalty kicks with Norway eventually prevailing. The England vs. Cameroon game was full of drama. This game featured multiple controversial moments in which the recently implemented VAR (soccer’s video review system) was used. All the big VAR decisions went the way of England. This upset the Cameroon players who protested by complaining and refusing to initially restart play after the reviews. VAR was first introduced in the men’s world cup last summer in Russia, and it has quickly become one of the major talking points in this year’s Women’s World Cup.
France and the US, two teams widely viewed as the two best in the world, survived tougher tests than imagined in the round of 16. France needed an extra time goal by their captain Amandine Henry to beat Marta and Brazil, while the US needed penalty luck (and the powerful kick of veteran game-captain Megan Rapinoe) to defeat pesky Spain. The results set up the anticipated quarterfinal matchup: France vs. the US in Paris on Friday. The ticket prices are skyrocketing in anticipation of an electric atmosphere and can’t miss action on the pitch between world-class players on both teams. The winner of this epic showdown will face the winner of England/Norway for the right to go to the final. On the other side of the bracket, the teams who I believe have a chance to reach the final are Germany, as well as the winner of the Netherlands/Japan match today. Germany’s superstar midfielder Dzenifer Marozsan, who broke her toe and has missed her squad’s last few games, looks likely to be cleared to play for the German’s quarterfinal game.
However, do not count out the Italians, who are arguably the biggest surprise of the World Cup so far.
I will end by predicting that the final will be the winner of the France/US game vs. Germany.
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