Live from the Women's World Cup. Thoughts on the first night of the third set of first round matches and which third place sides are likely to move on to the Round of 16 starting this weekend.
Crucial Third Game Matches Begin, With a Focus on the Most Likely Third Place Sides to Move On
After the end of the second set of group matches on June 16, it looked most likely that the four best third-place teams to move on to the knockout stage would come from the following groups:
Group A—Nigeria 3 points.
Group B—Spain 3 points (+1 Goal Difference) or China 3 points (0 GD).
Group C—Brazil 3 points (+2) or Australia 3 points (0).
The fourth side looks likely to come from Group D between Argentina (1 point and -1 GD) and Scotland (0 points and -2 GD), who play on Wednesday in Paris, which Tribal Football.com will report on live.
In Group E, Cameroon and New Zealand will play on Thursday with both teams having 0 points and a -3 GD, while Chile will face Thailand on the same day, again with both sides with 0 points and Chile at -5 GD and Thailand at -17.
In Group B on June 17, Germany defeated South Africa 4-0 in Montpellier and won the top seed in the group with 9 points. Spain and China drew 0-0 in Le Havre to both finish with 4 points—Spain takes second with a +1 Goal Differential while China's 4 points and 0 Goal Differential should surely see them advance as one of the third place qualifiers. Spain will face the U.S. in the round of 16 if the Americans win or tie versus Sweden on Thursday, as both have 6 points but the Americans have a much better goal differential (+16 to +6 for Sweden). Based on Spain's play thus far, the Americans will have a strong test, as both teams like to control the ball and build their attacks. One got the decided feeling in the Spain-China match that Spain was going for the win from the beginning of the game until the very end, while China seemed very content early on with a tie. Spain had an incredible 24 shots on goal to only 1 for China (11 on target vs. 0) with 8 corners to none for China. Spain had 61% possession of the ball. Goalkeeper Shimeng Peng (20) was outstanding for China, making a couple of diving saves on the ground and a last minute tip of a high shot headed into goal. Peng plays at Jiangsu Suning FC in China and is one to watch in the future. Second half substitute Alexia Putellas (FC Barcelona) was outstanding as a center attacking midfielder, running the frequent Spain attacks.
Both teams should be pleased with their advancement, particularly Spain as they finished 20th in Canada in a disappointing performance, and have advanced to the knockout stage for the first time in their second ever senior world championship, while China moves on for the seventh time in seven appearances, missing only the 2011 edition in Germany.
In Group A, France finished with three wins and 9 points after defeating Nigeria 1-0 on a retaken Wendie Renard penalty kick in the 79th minute. She pulled her first spot kick wide but the Nigerian goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, who plays at home with River Angels, was determined by VAR to have moved early off of her line—a ruling that seemed a tad harsh. Nigeria defended quite well during the game, particularly after losing defender Ngozi Ebere (Arja-Bjornar of Norway) to a second yellow card in the 75th minute. France was very fluent in attack with 22 shots to Nigeria's 2 and a 69% to 31% possession advantage. There were 9 minutes and 58 seconds of injury time added in the second half. Nigeria finished third in the group with 3 points and a goal difference of -2, but they should move onto the knockout stage for the second time in their 8 WWC appearances; they are a talented side and well coached by Sweden Thomas Dennerby and could spring a surprise over a higher ranked team. Norway defeated Korea Republic 2-1 to finish second in Group A with 6 points.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
