Greatest winners and losers from wild group stage at Ladies’s World Cup

Who had Fortieth-ranked Nigeria beating Ladies’s World Cup co-host Australia or Japan destroying Spain on the counterattack? How about america’ sudden brush with elimination or perennial powers Brazil and Germany heading house early in stunning vogue? The group stage in Australia and New Zealand served up the odd blowout however much more surprises. As we head into the knockout spherical, listed below are the largest winners and losers from the opening weeks of the event.

Winner: The chasing pack

With 32 groups collaborating within the Ladies’s World Cup – up from the 24 that contested every of the previous two tournaments – the overwhelming concern was that the top-ranked groups would gorge on all the underside feeders.

These considerations have been put to mattress emphatically within the group stage.

There have been way more upsets than anybody might’ve imagined, beginning with New Zealand’s tournament-opening win over 1995 champion Norway. Nigeria’s unbelievable 3-2 stunner over Australia was the difference-maker in Group B, permitting a workforce beset by allegations of unpaid wages to advance forward of Canada’s skilled Olympic gold medal winners. Colombia has confronted its personal struggle for respect again house, however contemplating the best way it beat Germany, with teenage sensation Linda Caicedo main the best way, nobody would comprehend it.

A lot of groups additionally secured their first wins on the World Cup. New Zealand had gone winless in 15 World Cup matches earlier than the aforementioned stunner towards Norway. Jamaica, which fundraised its personal strategy to the World Cup, beat Panama for its first-ever event victory after going 0-0-3 with a minus-11 aim differential on the 2019 event. The Reggae Girlz then held off Brazil to achieve the knockout stage and ship the Selecao house in one of many many shocks of the opening spherical. Zambia, a rustic collaborating in its first-ever males’s or ladies’s World Cup, beat Costa Rica to complete marginally behind earlier champions Japan and Spain in a aggressive Group C. South Africa used a 92nd-minute aim to oust Italy and attain the final 16 of the competitors. After which, in arguably the huge stunner of the group stage, World Cup debutant Morocco superior on the expense of two-time champion Germany, which had by no means earlier than been despatched packing within the opening spherical of the competitors.

For the primary time in Ladies’s World Cup historical past, three African sides superior to the spherical of 16, whereas three of the groups ranked inside FIFA’s high 10 – Germany (No. 2), Canada (No. 7), and Brazil (No. 8) – all fell on the first hurdle.

That wasn’t all. China has extra pedigree than most – it misplaced to america within the notorious 1999 remaining determined by Brandi Chastain’s indelible penalty kick – however grew to become simply the second workforce in Ladies’s World Cup historical past to win a recreation whereas down a participant. Portugal additionally got here agonizingly near eliminating america, a two-time defending champion aiming for an unprecedented three-peat, when Ana Capeta‘s late effort hit the put up.

The entire pre-tournament favorites have struggled, and a few of them are already again house after early exits. That is a testomony to the rising degree of competitors within the ladies’s recreation. The hole is closing.

Losers: Underperforming stars

The Ladies’s World Cup is often the area of the sport’s largest stars. Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, two of probably the most identifiable gamers in ladies’s soccer, led all World Cup scorers in 2019 with six objectives apiece, and Australian star Sam Kerr led all pre-tournament promos because the co-host’s main girl. French center-back Wendie Renard is a set-piece sensation whose headers routinely make spotlight reels, and Canada’s Christine Sinclair is worldwide soccer’s document scorer with 190 objectives.

However the largest names in ladies’s soccer have been conspicuously absent. Lengthy-term accidents to England’s Beth Mead and the Netherlands’ Vivianne Miedema robbed the World Cup of two of its most enjoyable gamers earlier than it even started. And with current Ballon d’Or winners Ada Hegerberg and Alexia Putellas and Golden Ball favourite Kerr all battling to remain match, others have needed to step up. Sophia Smith has compensated for Morgan’s lack of sharpness in entrance of aim for the U.S., whereas Hayley Raso stuffed Kerr’s boots with a clutch two-goal efficiency within the Matildas’ group-clinching victory over Canada.

Within the case of the 40-year-old Sinclair, 38-year-old Rapinoe, and 37-year-old Marta, age has been a limiting issue. Rapinoe has already confirmed she will not play in one other World Cup, Sinclair has prompt as a lot, and Marta, Brazil’s coronary heart and soul for many years, broke down in tears as she described her legacy.

“Marta ends right here,” the long-lasting ahead stated after Brazil’s shocking group-stage elimination. “However it’s only the start … The one outdated one is me; most of (my teammates) are younger women with monumental expertise. It is only the start for them. I finish right here, however they proceed.”

Gamers like Marta did not develop up with simply accessible function fashions within the ladies’s recreation. They grew to become their very own. It is now as much as the following technology to carve out their very own roles.

Winner: Linda Caicedo

Enter Caicedo. The 18-year-old has arguably turn into the largest story of the World Cup. Not solely has she scored probably the most spectacular aim of the event up to now – a top quality strike bent into the far nook following a blinding show of footwork – she’s excelled regardless of battling debilitating exhaustion. Caicedo collapsed whereas holding her chest throughout a coaching session and once more dropped to her knees within the remaining minutes of Colombia’s upset win over Germany, sparking considerations over her welfare.

There was a time when Caicedo thought she would not play in any respect. Identified with ovarian most cancers at 15, the Colombian sensation underwent surgical procedure to take away a tumor and misplaced one in every of her ovaries within the process. After six months of chemotherapy, Caicedo returned to coaching, and regardless of nonetheless being a teen, she’s turn into a beacon for ladies’s soccer in her nation. Caicedo performed in 4 worldwide competitions in 2022, together with the Copa America Femenina, serving to Colombia make an sudden run to the ultimate because the event’s MVP.

That helped her safe a transfer to Actual Madrid, however her gorgeous performances on the Ladies’s World Cup have really made her a world sensation. Caicedo performs with a nonchalance that makes all the things she does look simple and handles the unfair burden of being an 18-year-old veteran with outstanding maturity.

Loser: Vlatko Andonovski

It is arguably probably the most scrutinized place in all of ladies’s soccer, so whoever stands on the touchline for america is all the time going to face some form of criticism, even when the workforce is cruising alongside – simply ask Jill Ellis. Profitable alone is not sufficient to satiate followers of the two-time defending champion. A cohesive, entertaining fashion of play is important, too.

Sadly for Andonovski, the U.S. has completed neither at this World Cup. Outdoors of a subdued victory over an overmatched Vietnam aspect, it is all been fairly grim so far.

The People have appeared horribly disjointed and uninspired – the latter is often a direct reflection on the supervisor – and Andonovski’s tactical and personnel choices have been questioned by pundits and former gamers alike. Carli Lloyd, the previous USWNT star who scored a hat-trick within the 2015 remaining, has lambasted the workforce all through the event, which drew a public retort from the coach. It is all very tense proper now after the U.S. got here inside literal inches of being eradicated by Portugal within the group stage.

Andonovski is not alone in that regard, although. Bev Priestman was maligned for her puzzling lineup decisions throughout Canada’s meek group-stage exit, whereas Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was puzzled after Germany’s stunning elimination, saying solely that the workforce’s failure was a “catastrophe.”

It has been a tricky event for high-profile managers. Andonovski, in contrast to a few of his friends, can nonetheless flip issues round. For his sake, he must.

Winner: England and Lauren James

It is coming house?

After a sluggish begin and a distressing knee harm to star midfielder Keira Walsh threatened to derail the Lionesses’ progress, issues have taken a pointy flip in the correct route. Instantly, all the things’s arising England. Sarina Wiegman’s workforce crushed China 6-1 to shut out the group stage, getting objectives from 5 totally different gamers and a spectacular efficiency from Lauren James, who seems to be destined to take over the whole event.

Not like so many different groups within the competitors, the vibes round England are excellent proper now. That is intangible, certain, but it surely issues. A extra palpable benefit for England got here within the type of the knockout bracket, which has offered the reigning European champion with a seemingly golden alternative to make a deep event run. Contemplating the upsets witnessed at this World Cup to this point, underestimating any opponent is extremely silly, however, not less than on paper, England will fancy its possibilities towards Nigeria within the final 16 and doubtlessly one in every of Colombia or Jamaica within the quarterfinals. That is probably the most favorable path to the semifinals of any workforce nonetheless combating for the trophy.

“I feel we’re rising into this event,” Wiegman stated following the win over China to conclude the group stage. “You would see from the entire workforce that we have been having fun with ourselves; you would inform that we have been actually related, the ball goes round, and we’ve got other ways to go in assault.”

That is a daunting actuality for each different title contender.

Loser: Everybody’s bracket

They’re all busted.

If, by some miracle, you appropriately predicted all of the last-16 matchups previous to the event, it’s best to in all probability buy a lottery ticket immediately.