The quarterfinalists include Japan, Colombia and Australia, and five European squads. Here are the stars to watch and the key storylines to follow in the quarterfinal matches that begin Thursday.
After nearly three weeks of wall-to-wall soccer, the field of the largest-ever Women’s World Cup has narrowed to just eight.
Five of the teams remaining are from Europe: Spain, The Netherlands, Sweden, France and England. Japan, Colombia and Australia round out the bunch. Which teams are peaking at the right time? Read on.Spain vs. Netherlands
Thursday, Aug. 10 at 9 p.m. ET
Spain
Coming into the World Cup, Spain has been one of the favorites to go far – even though it has little experience deep in the tournament: This is Spain’s first time reaching the quarterfinals.
They’ve gotten to this stage despite major turbulence in their program. Last year, 15 team members resigned from the national team in protest of coach Jorge Vilda, who subsequently reshaped the team with new players. Three of the protesters — Mariona Caldentey, Ona Batlle and Aitana Bonmatí – were welcomed on to the World Cup squad, and La Roja 2.0 has been faring well.
Spain has scored the second-highest number of goals so far in the tournament: 13. Many of those came in its most recent match, as it thumped Switzerland 5-1 in the round of 16. (And Switzerland’s goal was an own goal by Spain.) Two of those goals were scored by Bonmatí, who plays for La Liga’s Barcelona and has been called the best midfielder in the tournament.
But Spain is by no means invincible: Fellow quarterfinalist Japan shut them out 4-0 in the final game of the teams‘ group stage.
Netherlands
Jill Roord, a midfielder who signed at Manchester City last month, has already scored four goals for the Dutch in this tournament. One of those was a header in the 9th minute in the round of 16 match against South Africa, giving the Dutch an early lead. They went on to win 2-0.
Netherlands began the tournament in a group with the U.S., and finished in the top spot after beating Portugal and Vietnam and tying the U.S. 1-1.
The Dutch will be at a disadvantage as it faces Spain. They will play without midfielder Danielle van de Donk, who is suspended for one match for accumulated yellow cards. Van de Donk is the linchpin between the Netherlands offense and defense, as well as a leader on the pitch, so her team may struggle to advance without her.
The Dutch made it to the World Women’s Cup final in 2019, where they lost to the U.S. 2-0.
The winner of the Spain-Netherlands matchup will go on to face the winner of Japan vs. Sweden.Japan vs. Sweden
Friday, Aug. 11 at 3:30 a.m. ET
The showdown between Japan and Sweden could be fierce – the sort of quarterfinal matchup that could have been a final if the brackets had been different.
Japan and Sweden haven’t met in a Women’s World Cup since the 2011 semifinals, when Japan won 3-1.
