AUCKLAND, New Zealand — History can be made Tuesday in at the very least one of many Women’s World Cup knockout video games, the place three groups attempt to advance to the quarterfinals for the primary time of their historical past.
Colombia, led by 18-year-old sensation Linda Caicedo, is making an attempt to advance for the primary time, 4 years after lacking the event subject. The Colombians made it to the spherical of 16 in 2015, had been eradicated in group play in 2011, and didn’t qualify within the 1999, 2003 and 2007 World Cups.
Standing in the way in which of Colombia, ranked twenty fifth on the planet, is Jamaica. The Reggae Girlz are taking part in of their second consecutive World Cup – they had been eradicated in group play in 2019 – and wanted a GoFundMe marketing campaign to afford the journey to this 12 months’s event.
Colombia received its group, Jamaica beat Panama and eradicated powerhouse Brazil with a scoreless draw to advance, and the winner of Tuesday’s match in Melbourne will advance to the quarterfinals for the primary time in group historical past.
In Tuesday’s second knockout sport, World Cup debutante Morocco will try and proceed its historic first event with a win over France. Coincidentally, the 2 nations performed to a 2-0 France victory within the semifinals of the boys’s World Cup final December in Qatar.
Morocco‘s women’s group superior as runner-up in Group H after back-to-back 1-0 wins in opposition to South Korea and Colombia. Morocco was the primary Arab or North African nation to qualify for the Women’s World Cup, then grew to become the primary to advance past the group stage. Morocco was certainly one of eight groups to make its event debut this 12 months and the one one to advance.
Morocco, ranked 72nd on the planet, could have a tricky time making it to the quarterfinals when the Atlas Lions play France in Adelaide, South Australia. France is ranked fifth on the planet and superior to at the very least the quarterfinals within the final three World Cups, and completed fourth in 2011.
France was eradicated by the United States within the quarterfinals in 2019 because the event co-host in a match performed in Paris.
COLOMBIA-JAMAICA
Two of probably the most dynamic scorers within the sport meet Tuesday when Jamaica performs Colombia.
Khadija “Bunny” Shaw was an attacking pressure with Manchester United final season, scoring 20 objectives in 22 league video games and has now taken Jamaica into the knockout spherical. Colombia has rising star Caicedo, who has two objectives within the event amid questions on her health.
Shaw hasn’t managed to seek out the purpose but on this event, as Jamaica has only one purpose within the group stage. Shaw sat out of the match due to a purple card within the opener in opposition to France.
Jamaica has performed surprisingly properly regardless of little or no preparation.
“Our defending was something of a concern for us. We had really no games coming into the World Cup. We had a camp in Jamaica,” Jamaica coach Lorne Donaldson stated. “Attending camp was very important. The main emphasis was, can we buy into defending? And I think right there and then, we saw something.”
Both France and Brazil, thought-about among the many prime groups on the World Cup, had been held scoreless by Jamaica. The Jamaicans misplaced each sport on the 2019 event, their solely different look.
“People always say, the best offense is defense,” midfielder Deneisha Blackwood stated.
Colombia, in the meantime, had its personal upset of a European energy within the opening spherical with a 2-1 win over two-time World Cup champion Germany. It was the group’s second win after defeating South Korea within the opener.
The Colombians fell to upstart Morocco within the closing match, however nonetheless completed atop their group to succeed in the knockout spherical for a second time.
Caicedo performed everything of Colombia’s 1-0 loss in opposition to Morocco final week to allay concern about her well being. She was seen dropping to the bottom throughout a follow session forward of the match in opposition to Germany.
When she was 15, Caicedo was recognized with ovarian most cancers and believed she may by no means play once more. But at the moment she’s emerged as one of many sport’s brightest younger stars.
Colombia can be with out Manuela Vanegas due to yellow playing cards within the group stage. Ana Maria Guzman, who like Caicedo is eighteen, will exchange Vanegas.
Guzman stated Caicedo is an inspiration.
“What Linda is doing for me and also every Colombian player, she’s our reference, she’s a symbol,” Guzman stated. “She’s a player that has proven that dreams can be achieved, and you have to work for that.”
FRANCE-MOROCCO
France, which reached the semifinals of final 12 months’s European Championship, is making an attempt to to succeed in the quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive Women’s World Cup.
Les Blues has misplaced simply certainly one of their final 11 internationals.
France rested a number of gamers for its closing group sport, together with captain Wendie Renard and Eugenie Le Sommer, the nation’s all-time main scorer. Sakina Karchaoui, Sandie Toletti and Kenza Dali had been additionally on the bench, as all three gamers are one yellow card away from a suspension.
Maelle Lakrar has performed each minute of the event however the defender is a doubt in opposition to Morocco due to a thigh harm.
Le Sommer stated the French had been stunned to study they’d be going through Morocco within the knockout spherical: “It was a bit of a surprise, even if we know that anything is possible in football. Their chances were slim, but this is the beauty of it, to be able to go through even if the chances are so small,” she stated.
And now the French will attempt to play because the extra dominant of the 2 groups.
“We are favorites and we won’t hide from it, we came here with a lot of ambition, and that won’t change because we play Morocco,” Le Sommer stated. “We approach every game the same way, we want to win. We have more experience than Morocco in this kind of tournament, it is their first World Cup, their first round of 16. So it is up to us to bring the best from ourselves to win this match.”
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