Five things we learned from the round of 16 at the World Cup
The round of 16 at this summer’s World Cup certainly didn’t disappoint. After some great clashes in the group stages, 16 teams – the top two teams from Groups A through F plus the four best third-placed sides – all headed to the knockout rounds.
Most of the results were expected, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t some controversy along the way.
Here’s five things we learned from the round of 16 at the World Cup.
Germany continuing to pick up momentum at just the right time
Germany, well, are the second-ranked team in the world, so really, no one expected Nigeria to have much of a chance against die Nationalelf. The gulf in class between the two sides was readily apparent as the two-time World Cup winners earned a rather academic 3-0 victory. Yes, from Nigeria’s perspective, they weren’t humiliated 8-0 like Germany had done to them not too long ago, but the fact that the Super Falcons were unable to score a goal is a testament to Germany’s excellent defending and their unwillingness to let their concentration drop – despite being in control for much of the game.
That means that so far, no one has been able to score against Germany. They’ve faced Spain, China, and South Africa – and realistically, the Spaniards were the most likely to trouble them. But they offered little resistance as Germany ground out a gritty 1-0 win and effectively prevented them from playing their passing game.
Next up for Germany will be Sweden, who have been solid, but not spectacular so far this summer. Will they be able to break Germany’s wall? We’ll have to see – but certainly it will be much easier said than done.
England’s Three Lionesses continue to shine and prove they deserve to be among the elite
Meanwhile, England, who are only ranked behind the USA and Germany, continued their excellent run by downing Cameroon 3-0. Although much of the focus has been on the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, and hosts France as the big favorites to win it, Phil Neville’s ladies have been quietly going about business and notably also finished their group stage campaign without a single defeat (or draw).
They kept their cool as Cameroon clearly were up for a fight (literally) but their win came at a major cost as skipper Steph Houghton was the victim of a vicious tackle that could cost her a spot in the starting XI for the quarter-finals.
They will certainly be fancying their chances against Norway, who had to go to extra time and penalties to beat Australia. England finished third four years ago – their highest ever result – and now will be looking to go one step further by potentially featuring in the final.
African sides are still light-years behind European counterparts…
Only two African sides – Cameroon and Nigeria – qualified for the round of 16, and both exited without scoring a single goal as they were each beaten 3-0 by England and Germany respectively.
Cameroon didn’t cover themselves in glory either, as they repeatedly tried to disrupt the game with vicious fouls and even attempting to walk off – twice – when a VAR call didn’t go their way. To be honest, the Indomitable Lionesses were very fortunate to keep all 11 women on the pitch, and it’s quite surprising that they were only given two cautions during the course of a rather nasty game. It’s also very questionable that VAR or the officials didn’t pick up Cameroon’s players spitting at their opponents and that no one was ejected – especially for a early elbow and later the brutal foul on Steph Houghton.
Their protests, with some players breaking down in tears was rather embarrassing and certainly did not help them focus on the game at hand; rather it made them look petulant and garnered little sympathy. Nigeria, on the other hand, at least didn’t throw a hissy fit on the pitch, nor did the Super Falcons come out looking like they wanted more to engage in martial arts rather than football. However, despite their best efforts, they were no match for no. 2 ranked side Germany, who easily brushed them aside 3-0.
As noted before, Nigeria are a dominant force in Africa, but have repeatedly struggled to find their footing on the bigger stage. As a result, there are no African sides in the quarter-finals (it’s seven European sides plus the United States) and it’s a shame that there isn’t more diversity in the final eight. But the reason is painfully obvious – Africa’s teams still are light-years behind those in Europe and North America (USA and Canada), and they have many more years to go in order to be fully competitive on the world stage.
…and Asia’s teams have also started to fall behind
Japan, in particular was especially disappointing this summer. Whether it was a shock scoreless draw with Argentina or failing to impress against England, the 2011 World Cup winners looked like a shadow of their former selves. Yes, this was a much younger team, but still, there were some who at least expected a stronger showing from a team who made history as the first Asian side to win a World Cup only eight years ago.
At one point they did look like they were getting back into the game against the Netherlands, only concede a last-minute penalty to the Oranje in heartbreaking fashion for their supporters. As for China, the Steel Roses clearly were building their game off defensive solidarity. Although they scored just one goal in the group stages, they only conceded once, which is a really impressive feat as Germany and Spain were also in their group. That included shutting out Spain over 90 minutes – something that is easier said than done.
However, against Italy, their game plan went awry as the Azzurre scored two sans reply to dump them out of the tournament. China, whilst showing improvement, still have a long way to go in order to keep pace with the European sides, and as for Japan, it’s back to the drawing board for a team who showed so much promise in the last two tournaments.
USA show that they are not infallible – and that other teams have started closing the gap
The USA have scored 20 times this summer – more than any other team in Women’s World Cup history as they look to defend their title. No team has won the World Cup more than the Stars and Stripes, but even they are not infallible.
13 of those goals came in a crushing of minnows Thailand. Against Chile, they were surprisingly contained as many expected a blowout, but the South Americans only lost 3-0. Sweden, as anticipated presented a tougher opponent, with the USA being aided by an own goal as they battled to a 2-0 victory.
It seemed indeed like Jill Ellis’s side, whilst winning, were facing tougher and tougher opposition, and they conceded for the first time this tournament against Spain. La Roja were ready to match wits and the fact that they needed a penalty – in fact two – to beat them was especially worrying. That meant that for the first time this tournament, Team USA were unable to score from open play.
France are their next opponents, and that’s going to be a tough match as Les Bleues are the home team and have been quite impressive themselves this summer. And the way things are going, it looks like whoever beats the reigning champs will probably win the trophy – so all eyes will definitely be on that crunch clash on Friday.
