With this year’s Women’s World Cup now in full stride, football fans around the globe will be glued to their TV screens to find out what will happen next. There have already been quite a few surprises in the group stages which have left some viewers in tears as well as others frustrated.
One of the major surprises was co-hosts New Zealand being knocked out in the group stages where as Australia finished top of Group B. This is the first time that a host nation has been knocked out in the group stages so disapointed fans will have been left in tears having had to leave the tournament which they had bravely decided to host. Australia finished top of group B which can come as an immense relief as they are through to the knock out stages where they could possibly come up against sone strong opposition which can be extremely challenging.
National teams from all around the world have travelled to the tournament and so far there have been some big surprises with some strong teams who were expected to do well crashing out in the group stages. Some examples of teams heading home are Brazil, Argentina and Germany. These are sides who are normally expected to do well in international tournaments but for some reason this year didn’t make it to a high enough standard.
There have also been teams who have showed off their skills by winning all their matches and taking a clean sweep through their group. One of these teams is England who beat Denmark, China and Haiti on their way to topping their group and heading in to the last 16 phase. As part of this they beat Asian champions China 6-1 which is quite a suprising result given that China have just won their continental competition.
Sarina Wiegman’s side now face Nigeria which should bde an extremely competitive match with both sides being in good form as well as having the skills and ability to win. The Lionesses will have the weight of history on their shoulders as England haven’t won a major international trophy for over thirty years. This adds to the tension and puts more pressure on the players to see if they can make history for their country and be remembered for a long time.
The Opta supercomputer has England as heavy favourites to win, giving them a 65.1% chance of victory. The Lionesses will have strong motivation to continue what they accomplished last year having a the Euros and making a name for themselves at a high standard in football. There will be many young girls around the UK who will have taken certain players as good role models and will now believe that they can achieve anything if they try hard enough.
England had a few surprises in their group having drawn against Denmark and Haiti but if they continue to play as they did against China, they can believe that they can achieve anything and potentially win the tournament. This will be a great relief for the country and will be able to make history as only the second world cup that England has ever won.
Instead of facing pre-tournament favourites Germany in the quarter-final, England – should they progress to the last eight – will face either Colombia or Jamaica, a game they should also win based on the Fifa world rankings (Colombia are ranked 25th and Jamaica 43rd, compared to England in fourth).
Winning that would set up a semi-final against one of Australia, Denmark, France or Morocco. A clash with the hosts in Sydney would be a huge occasion and a tough game given that they inflicted the first defeat of Wiegman’s reign earlier this year.
