Women’s World Cup: Three Contenders Look to Make Their Move
The subsequent stretch of video games within the Women’s World Cup will see a number of favorites to win the match look to construct some momentum — or, in Canada’s case, discover some — and show the dominance for which they’re recognized.
Canada, which left the sphere pissed off after taking part in a scoreless tie with Nigeria in its first sport, will look to rebound towards Ireland. Japan and Spain, who each cruised of their openers, will look to repeat the feat.
And then on Thursday afternoon in New Zealand (Wednesday evening Eastern time), the United States will attempt to put aside an uneven efficiency towards Vietnam and produce the sort of authoritative victory its followers count on.
Japan vs. Costa Rica
Japan and Spain can lock up locations within the knockout spherical with a repeat of the successful performances they turned in to start out the match.
Japan’s 5 targets had been the headline from its opening win towards Zambia, however beneath that was one other promising statistic: Japan didn’t enable a single shot.
If the Japanese flip in a equally one-side efficiency towards Costa Rica, which struggled to comprise Spain, it could restart conversations about their standing as true championship contenders.
To achieve this, Japan should comprise Raquel Rodríguez, a midfielder for the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League who’s her group’s greatest hope of turning issues round.
Spain vs. Zambia
Spain opened the World Cup in spectacular type towards Costa Rica. Zambia’s match has already taken a nasty flip.
It is all the way down to its third-string goalkeeper, after the starter Hazel Nali was dominated out of the World Cup with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and her backup Catherine Musonda earned a suspension by getting two yellow playing cards within the Japan sport.
That doesn’t bode properly for a Zambia group that allowed 5 targets in its first sport, particularly because it faces a mesmerizing offense that’s simply now beginning to return Alexia Putellas, the reigning world participant of the 12 months, to full health after a knee harm.
Canada vs. Ireland
Ireland misplaced to Australia in its opening match however had a number of probabilities. It wants no less than a draw towards Canada to maintain alive its hopes of advancing from Group B.
Canada, in the meantime, is underneath stress to get its first win. But merely scoring a objective or two could be a confidence increase after the veteran ahead Christine Sinclair did not convert a penalty which may have meant a victory — as a substitute of a scoreless draw — towards Nigeria.
Adding to the Canadians’ challenges is the variety of Irish followers anticipated to be in attendance Wednesday. More than 10 % of Australia’s inhabitants claims Irish roots, which was a part of the rationale the Australia-Ireland opening day matchup was moved to a bigger stadium.
“We’ve already sensed that there is a strong following,” Canada Coach Bev Priestman stated.
But Priestman sees greater points than a hostile crowd. She described the Irish as a “horrible” group to play towards due to its combativeness and physicality, a “passion” she stated her group must match.
United States vs. Netherlands
One of essentially the most extremely anticipated matchups of this World Cup comes with big stakes, because it probably will decide which of those groups has a better path out of Group E. But it comes off unsatisfying performances by each the United States (in a 3-0 win over Vietnam) and the Netherlands (1-0 towards Portugal) of their opening video games.
“We weren’t always clicking on the field,” the United States co-captain Alex Morgan stated this week.
The Americans determine to have a harder activity towards the Dutch. The Netherlands beat its first opponent, Portugal, by solely a single objective, however didn’t enable a shot on track till the 82nd minute. And therein lies the issue going through the United States: that sturdiness, self-discipline and group shall be robust to interrupt down.
Their sport is scheduled for Thursday afternoon in New Zealand, or 9 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday.
Norway is in concerning the worst place it might have imagined going into its third sport of the Women’s World Cup: It has a loss and a draw; its greatest participant, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg, didn’t play on Tuesday due to discomfort she felt throughout warm-ups; and one in every of its most revered midfielders, Caroline Graham Hansen, tore into her coach after the sport for dropping her from the lineup.
“People talk all the time about ‘standing together as a team’ and ‘standing together as a nation,’” Graham Hansen instructed the Norwegian broadcaster Viaplay after the sport. “It is not true that you should get anything for free in this life. But I thought I had earned a certain amount of respect.”
Still, due to an odd set of leads to its group, by which each group however the Norwegians has a win, Norway may be very a lot in play to go from final within the Group A standings to the spherical of 16 if it may beat the Philippines on Sunday.
The situations for advancing on the World Cup can usually be convoluted, however we’re right here to assist. The Upshot has once more produced a team-by-team take a look at who would transfer on given the attainable outcomes for every sport, accounting for the complicated system of tiebreakers that comes into play every match.
The charts present, for instance, that Norway — which entered the match as the highest group in its group based mostly on the FIFA rankings — might use a little bit of assist from Switzerland. And, conversely, the maths reveals that Switzerland in all probability would possibly need Norway to win, too, to provide the Swiss some probabilities to advance even with a loss. New Zealand and the Philippines every can advance with a win, but additionally with a draw, relying on how issues play out.
These situations shall be up to date as every group wraps up its second set of video games, supplying you with a right away take a look at what every group will want in its closing group-stage sport to advance to the knockout rounds.
The sport the United States has been ready for for the reason that World Cup draw was launched is lastly right here: its rematch of the 2019 closing towards the Netherlands.
Much has modified for the reason that Americans beat the Dutch in France 4 years in the past. Women’s soccer has grown extra aggressive, with extra contenders than ever. The gaps between groups are closing quick.
The United States group is completely different, too. It is now not the veteran-heavy group of 2019, a group that was stocked with big-game expertise and big-stage savvy.
For ahead Alex Morgan, the change is much more dramatic: She’s a mom now. Her daughter, Charlie, is 3, born the 12 months after Morgan gained her second World Cup title. “I’m just in a very different place than I was four years ago,” Morgan stated Tuesday.
The similar is true of her group, each on and off the sphere. In 2019, it spent quite a lot of time, effort and brainpower pushing for equal pay, a profitable marketing campaign that now lets the group focus (for essentially the most half) on soccer. Good factor, too. Because the Netherlands poses as robust a problem as ever.
“They don’t give you much space at all to receive and turn or get on the dribble,” Morgan stated of the Dutch defenders, calling them “incredibly organized” and bodily, but additionally nice in transition. To beat them, she is aware of, the United States should enhance on its opening-day efficiency towards Vietnam.
“You saw glimpses of our potential,” Morgan stated of that 3-0 victory. “But I feel like we weren’t always clicking on the field. I feel like some of the plays that we had were a little forced or rushed.”
