AUCKLAND — Five days after Spain's shock loss to Japan, a bold squad reshuffle by coach Jorge Vilda paid off for the Spanish team on Saturday as they thrashed Switzerland 5-1 in their last-16 Women's World Cup clash.
The victory launched La Roja into the quarterfinals for the first time in their history.
"(The 4-0 loss to Japan) really hurt and the healing of that pain will continue," Vilda told a press conference.
WELLINGTON — Hinata Miyazawa scored her fifth goal of the tournament as Japan beat Norway 3-1 in a clash of former champions on Saturday to reach the quarterfinals of the Women's World Cup for the fourth time.
Japan have been on a mission to bury the memory of their disappointing exit at the last-16 stage in 2019 and move on to play the winner of Sunday's clash between holders the United States and Sweden.
When FIFA made the bracket for the Women’s World Cup, they did so assuming the United States women’s national team would top their group.
If that had been the case, then the U.S. would’ve been playing South Africa in the Round of 16 at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday. If they won that game the quarterfinal match vs. the winner of Spain-Switzerland would be on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.
FIFA tried to make viewing the Women’s World Cup for American fans easy, however the lackluster group stage games from the USWNT put a wrench in those plans.
SYDNEY — The unpredictability of results at the Women's World Cup, with former champions bowing out early and debutants advancing, is evidence that playing standards are improving across the board, FIFA's Technical Study Group (TSG) said on Friday.
The TSG analyzed data from the first 48 matches of the tournament and have concluded that defensive organization is better and goalkeepers are better positioned and making more saves, while fewer goals are being scored.
PERTH — Debutants Morocco stunned Colombia 1-0 in their final group match in Perth on Thursday to reach the last 16 of the Women's World Cup at the first attempt along with their opponents.
The 72nd ranked Moroccans scored through Anissa Lahmari's toe-poke after a saved penalty at the end of the first half but their passage was only secured after South Korea held twice champions Germany to a 1-1 draw in the other Group H match.
The greatest story at the 2023 Women's World Cup belongs to South Africa after Banyana Banyana (The Girls), ranked 54th in the world, shocked 16th-ranked Italy, quarterfinalists back in 2019, to reach the Round of 16 for the first time ever.
South Africa entered the match having only just earned their first-ever World Cup point in a 2-2 draw with Argentina, but anything less than a victory over Italy would've condemned Banyana Banyana to group stage elimination.
United States women’s national team legend Carli Lloyd has become one of the big talking points of the USWNT’s 0-0 draw vs. Portugal on Tuesday.
Lloyd was not enthused to see her former teammates dancing and celebrating after the lackluster performance and went on a mini rant.
The USWNT's 0-0 draw with Portugal was a cry for help. If there's one thing we can say with 100 percent certainty, it's that Vlatko Andonovski's previous call for patience and simply more of the same is entirely without warrant. Recurrent issues have been plaguing the team for almost two years and they aren't working themselves out — there's something wrong with the system.
As a regular U.S. soccer fan, it’s typically my duty to disagree with polarizing FOX pundit Alexi Lalas. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case this Tuesday morning as the USWNT pathetically got a 0-0 draw vs. Portugal to finish second in Group E and advance to the Round of 16 of the Women’s World Cup.
There isn’t much to discuss about the USWNT’s draw. They were slapdash on the attack and lucky not to concede on defense. Portugal were inches away from sending the USWNT home but rattled the post late in the game.
An abysmally disjointed midfield and attacking performance almost knocked the USWNT out of the World Cup at the group stage early Tuesday morning. Defeat to Portugal wasn't even contemplated within the USA camp during the buildup to this one — the focus was instead on putting as many as possible past the tournament debutants — but as we entered second-half stoppage time at Eden Park in Auckland, the score remained 0-0.