Women's World Cup quarterfinals are looking great
So we've made it through the group stages and through the first round of knockout stages where really the only super surprising thing that happened was the United States, who was expected to win the entire WC, got knocked out in the first round. This is the earliest departure from the World Cup that USA has ever experienced in the 8 times the World Cup started happening for women. It's kind of funny because when we watch the men play, not many Americans really expect them to make it out of the group stages and when they do I think they have only made it past the first knock-out round a couple of times.
This year's Women's World Cup was something I didn't expect to enjoy nearly as much as I have been but I am really into it. Football purists who love the sport a lot more than I do would probably say something along the lines of how the sport is too slow and is boring when women play but perhaps I am watching with rose-tinted glasses because I am not really a fan of the sport despite the fact that I went to college for free because I was very good at it as a teenager and in my early 20's.
The main reason why I am enjoying the WWC is probably because I am the only person I know that is watching it and perhaps I subconsciously enjoy being a bit of an outsider. I also have been enjoying the fact that the women seem to dive significantly less than the men do. That side of the sport is something I find immensely annoying and is a big part of why I can't really enjoy watching the game on TV or live. Celebrating cheating is something I will never be able to get behind, even if it is the team that I support that is doing it.
Let's get back to what remains of the teams in contention for the biggest title in women's football of the soccer variety.
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I think the left side of the bracket is a lot more exciting than the right but much of this is based on the fact that the only team I have seen play on the right side is England. I am willing to bet that the France/Australia game will be packed since they are the host nation and were not really expected to make it this far. I would love to see them do well and perhaps make it all the way to the final. According to Las Vegas and other gambling websites, this is extremely unlikely to happen. However, these same bookies basically all agreed that USA was going to win it all with little difficulty, so they aren't always correct.
My picks for the next 4 games are like this.
- I believe Spain will defeat Netherlands by a narrow margin but a lot of goals will be scored
- I believe Japan will defeat Sweden in what may very well be the best game of the WC thus far. It will be close but the strategy of Japan just seems to be the best that any team has up to this point
- I believe France will defeat Australia but the game will be very low scoring because both sides will be playing defensively
- I believe England will defeat Colombia by far fewer goals than they should. England has been under-performing just like USA but Colombia is simply a much weaker side. Colombia did have a shocking victory over Germany, but other than that their play has been rather lackluster. We do need to consider that England will be playing this game without star-forward Lauren James, who was red-carded for an egregious fouls vs Nigeria. That could have an impact on goal-scoring, not that England has been doing much of that anyway.
The game I am most looking forward to is Japan vs. Sweden. Sweden are probably feeling as though they are a bit invincible at this point since they eliminated the USA but Japan has been the most dominant team in the World Cup up to this point. There has been no time that it ever seemed as though they were facing defeat and they absolutely trounced Spain, who is also in the quarterfinals. I would be willing to bet that Spain is absolutely praying that Japan gets beat by Sweden so that they don't have to face them again.
Do you have any picks for the upcoming games? They start tomorrow!