The first round of the FIFA Women's World Cup has ended, with half of the teams in the competition having been eliminated.
With Groups A, B, and C already completing their top two teams to qualify in the knockout stages, here is an update for the rest of the teams involved, including several notable early exits:
Group D: England and Denmark have qualified for the knockout stage after defeating China (6-1) and Haiti (2-0), respectively, during their August 1 double-header.
Group E: Portugal has given the defending champions the US an upset after ending the game in a scoreless draw on their August 1 match. The Netherlands, on the other hand, dealt a demolishing blow to Vietnam 7-0 in their final respective group matches, with the Dutch team also dealing an upset to the US in the group rankings.
Group F: While Panama is no longer qualified, it did fight valiantly against France in its final group match, losing the game 6-3, which was one of the few good losing scores to date compared to the other matches in the tournament. Meanwhile, Jamaica advances to the knockout stages after upsetting traditional powerhouse Brazil in a 0-0 draw. Brazil previously lost to France 2-1 on July 29.
Group G: It was an early exit for both Italy and Argentina after losing their matches to South Africa (3-2) and Sweden (2-0), respectively.
Group H: Germany is the latest powerhouse team to get eliminated early in the Women's World Cup after settling a 1-1 draw with South Korea on their August 3 match. Morocco, on the other hand, got the second ticket to the knockout stages after defeating fellow qualifier Colombia 1-0, also on August 3.
Read Also: HNGN's Coverage of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
Knockout Matches Begin
With half of the teams going home as of this report, the knockout stages would now begin over the weekend.
On Saturday (August 5), Switzerland, who have breezed over Group A by dealing the Philippines a 2-0 win and scoreless draws to both New Zealand and Norway, would have to face Spain, who racked up eight goals in three games, even though they were annihilated by fellow qualifier Japan in their final group game 4-0. Their match would be at 05:00 UTC.
Also on Saturday, Japan will face Norway. Nadeshiko Japan made a three-for-three sweep on Group C, scoring 11 goals so far, while Norway only had six, all of them during their demolition job against the Philippines in Group A. Their match would be at 08:00 UTC.
On Sunday (August 6), the Netherlands would face off with the South Africans at 02:00 UTC. However, the more interesting match would come seven hours later (09:00 UTC), when the US would face off with Sweden for a place in the quarterfinals.
Both teams have made a clean sweep over their respective groups, but a US defeat in the knockout stages would send shockwaves to the football world as the World Cup championship would become anyone's game again.
The rest of the schedule for the knockout stages can be found here.
Related Article: Forbes Contributor Criticizes FIFA President Infantino's Early Women's World Cup Exit
