The underside-right aspect of the World Cup knockout-round bracket was at all times a double-edged sword. Extra upsets occurred in Teams F and H than every other, with powerhouses Brazil and Germany watching the ultimate 16 play as an alternative of competing amongst them. The quarterfinals at the moment are composed of seven heavy hitters — and Colombia. The primary stage of the knockout rounds has come to a detailed and each longshot to make a deep run at the Girls’s World Cup has exited the event however one.
Jamaica, Morocco, South Africa, and Nigeria all deserved to advance out of the group stage. Then the standard from different teams turned a difficulty. Jamaica was the one member of that quartet to not play a workforce ranked No. 9 on this planet or greater within the Spherical of 16, falling to No. 25 Colombia on Tuesday morning 1-0, the distinction representing the one aim the Reggae Ladies conceded in all the event. Probably the most susceptible of the heavy hitters, England, who might be with out star Lauren James for the quarterfinals and solely superior over Nigeria on penalty kicks, will face Colombia with a spot within the closing 4 on the road. Each different heavy hitter faces considered one of their very own within the subsequent spherical.
For all of the parity proven within the group stage with Canada bowing out and the US practically becoming a member of them, it’s as near chalk as the larger soccer federations might’ve hoped for within the quarterfinals. But, an Australia-France quarterfinal, the place the winner performs the England-Colombia victor, feels utterly one-sided. The opposite aspect of the bracket holds the Netherlands, Spain, Japan and Sweden, the place any of these 4 groups might be within the closing. Because of this the event will get performed nonetheless. Increase your hand for those who had an England-Colombia quarterfinal. Congrats, you’re a liar.
5 European groups are left within the discipline. Co-host Australia, upstarts Colombia, and the one earlier World Cup champion, Japan, left within the event characterize the opposite trio. The Aussies have hit their stride after dropping to Nigeria within the group stage and Sam Kerr is lastly wholesome. The Matildas’ quarterfinal matchup in opposition to the 2019 hosts France ought to function the de-facto semifinal. I can’t see both of these groups dropping to England or Colombia. The French have been knocked out in Paris by the Individuals. The hosts often can’t have good issues, because the final internet hosting nation to make it previous the quarterfinals were the US in 2003. But, Colombia will attempt to punch above its weight and play spoiler with all of the daunting foes left in its method.
France advances in dominant style
Morocco began its knockout sport in opposition to France with the incorrect defensive technique, and it price it dearly, permitting three objectives in a 9-minute span halfway by the primary half. That proved to be too deep a gap for the Moroccan assault, dropping 4-0 and ending the World Cup for the lowest-ranked to ever make it to the knockout stage. The jarring a part of watching France’s victory wasn’t that the longer-standing girls’s soccer powerhouse gained. It was how Morocco’s Nouhaila Benzina couldn’t play for France or a French membership, because the nation’s soccer federation bans carrying a hijab as a part of a soccer uniform, a choice upheld by a French courtroom in June.
If there’s a rustic from the 2 senior-level World Cups held over the past 9 months that improved its standing in world soccer essentially the most, it’s Morocco. A semifinal look for the boys, who additionally misplaced to France within the knockout rounds, and a miraculous run from the nation’s girls’s workforce, who rebounded from a 6-0 defeat by Germany in its first sport of the group stage to advance to the ultimate 16. It’d’ve led to a 4-goal defeat to the French, however few groups made a home distinction extra at the Girls’s World Cup than Morocco.
