Women’s World Cup Day 4: It’s Still Anybody’s Game

If there’s been one theme of this World Cup, it’s been that the higher-ranked teams are not as safe as they might’ve thought.

So far in the group stage, there has only been one upset: co-host country New Zealand’s 1-0 win over Norway. But there have been a number of near-upsets and games with smaller-than-anticipated margins of victory. Defense and goalkeeping have dominated the tournament in a way that wasn’t expected. Sunday's games were no different, with three dominant teams struggling to truly dominate.

Sweden 2, South Africa 1

After a relatively dull first half in Wellington, an upset seemed to be in the air when South African midfielder Hildah Magaia opened the scoring in the 48th minute. Sweden is ranked third in the world, so to see them stumble is delightful for fans of the underdog.

However, Sweden came back from the brink of an upset. Midfielder Fridolina Rolfö scored in the 65th minute to bring the teams back to even, while defender Amanda Ilestedt put in a header off a corner kick in the 90th minute to give Sweden the victory late.

Although Sweden dominated possession throughout the game, both teams ended with a good number of shots on goal. In all, Sweden breaths a sigh of relief to come away with three points, while South Africa may go into their remaining group stage games with the knowledge that they nearly brought its toughest opponent to its knees.

Netherlands 1, Portugal 0

The Netherlands (ranked ninth in the world) and Portugal (21st) had one of the more evenly-matched games of this first slate of group stage games, despite Portugal making their Women's World Cup debut. The two teams maintained relatively even possession throughout the game, with 57% for the Netherlands and 43% for Portugal.

Dutch defender Stefanie van der Gragt got the first, and only, goal of the game early on, a header off of Sherida Spitse’s corner kick. The goal was almost disallowed due to offsides, but VAR determined that the offsides did not affect Portugese goalkeeper Inês Pereira.

The Netherlands created multiple chances throughout the rest of the game, but were unable to add any more goals to their tally. Portugal, meanwhile, couldn’t get much going on offense during their first-ever World Cup match.

France 0, Jamaica 0

Perhaps the most shocking result of the tournament yet, France and Jamaica were kept to a scoreless draw on Sunday. 

France absolutely dominated possession (73% of possession throughout the game), but struggled to take shots. Les Bleues made good passes in the midfield, yet were consistently shut down by Jamaica’s defense and goalkeeper Becky Spencer.

As the second half wore on, France upped the urgency and speed of play. They especially turned on the jets after Jamaica’s primary attacker, Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, was sent off in the 92nd minute with a second yellow card, called for a sloppy challenge on French captain Wendie Renard.

Despite many close calls late in the second half, France was unable to break the draw. The two teams walked away with one point each — a result that likely felt like a victory for Jamaica.

Takeaway

A tighter field of competitors is important for two reasons. One, the higher level of competition from teams outside of the typical contenders indicates growth in women’s soccer: As other countries invest more in their women’s soccer teams (some of which have had to rely on private funding), the teams will see far greater success.

The other is that the tournament’s recent expansion to 32 teams means that only the top two teams in each group qualify for the group stage. In the previous 24-team tournament, some groups could have three teams qualify if they had a high enough number of points. Goal differential, which acts as a tiebreaker if teams have the same number of points, will be more crucial than ever. These tighter games may put some of the tournament’s most-favored teams at risk if they can’t pull ahead in these games against lower-ranked opponents — a prospect that, admittedly, sounds like great fun.

Next on the slate: 
Italy vs. Argentina, 2 a.m. ET
Germany vs. Morocco, 4:30 a.m. ET
Brazil vs. Panama, 7 a.m. ET