Women's World Cup Update #2 - Thursday, June 18th, 2015

Tony DiCicco – Fox Soccer Analyst for the World Cup

The first round of the Women's World Cup is done and there are some interesting match-ups; let's take a look.

USA Bracket

China – Cameroon - The China coach was tossed in the last game for interfering with a quick throw-in by New Zealand. The game ended up 2-2 and that result sent the Ferns (NZL) home and put China second in group A. China has been a bit of a pleasant surprise and has shown that this young team has a solid defense (they are hard to put away), led by their captain Wu Hiyan and also some good attacking players which has not been the case for China since 1999, when they were an excellent team.

Cameroon has been fun to watch. They have exciting attacking players with Christine Manie and Gabrielle Onguene. The question is, can they stay organized enough, especially on set pieces, to prevent a goal?

My pick…is Cameroon. The USA will see the winner of this match in the quarterfinals…IF, they get past their round of 16 match-up with Colombia.

By the way, in the USA Bracket, we have #1 Germany; #2 USA and #3 France... What was FIFA thinking? Yes, you want Canada to go far but does this pass the “straight face test?”

USA – Colombia - The USA isn't the USA we have seen in the past. They aren’t scoring a lot of goals. They have been shut out 5 times in their last 14 games. It took 170+ games to shut them out 5 times before that, but they are playing very good defense with their back five of Hope Solo; Becky Sauerbrunn, Julie Johnston, Meghan Klingenberg and Ali Kreiger. With Alex Morgan back starting , will the scoring come back to the team? If it does, this team will be hard to stop!

Colombia recorded the greatest upset in Women’s World Cup history when they beat France in group play. However, their depth is questionable and they will be without their talented goalkeeper Sandra Sepulveda after she received her second yellow card in their third group game. They do have some dangerous players in Yoreli Rincon, Lady Andrade and Daniela Montoya but this shouldn’t be too much of a test for a USA Team that is rounding into form. USA moves on.

Germany – Sweden - Germany cruised through an easy group drawing with Norway, and then overwhelming Ivory Coast and Thailand. However, with Sweden only earning 3 draws in group play, this match-up of the top ranked and fifth ranked teams is a surprise. Sweden hasn’t played well and they thought they were out but they snuck in as the lowest third place team and live on. That makes them dangerous, however, as their star forward Lotta Schlein hasn’t shown up yet. Germany is strong with their strike force of Anja Mittag, Celia Sasic and Lena Petermann. Sweden is dangerous but Germany will win and move on!

France – South Korea - France came in as one of the favorites and then became very French with team discord and a loss to Colombia (biggest upset in WWC history). They did, however, regroup in their last group game by benching star Louisa Nacib and making two other starter changes and then cruised to a 5-0 win over Mexico. The French have star power with Eugenie Le Sommer; Marie Laure Delie and Amandine Henri and should get past South Korea IF they come to the match as one team! South Korea came from behind in a winner take all third group match up with Spain. Two good teams that let wins slip into draws earlier in group play could have eliminated them both if they tied, but a late South Korea goal sent them to this match-up which should be their last contest of the World Cup. France advances.

Canada Bracket

Brazil – Australia - Brazil won all its group games and finished with 9 points but were unimpressive. Marta (all time leading World Cup scorer) scored one goal and did not look like the 5-time FIFA Player of the Year. Australia came in second to the USA in group D and looks like a very dangerous opponent with attacking players like Lisa da Vanna; Sam Kerr and Kyah Simon… This is a tasty match-up and I think Brazil will go through but only by the skin of their teeth. By the way, most Fox TV analysts are picking Australia!

Japan – Netherlands - Like Brazil, Japan won all three of their group games in probably the easiest group and they, like Brazil, also did not look that impressive. They are defending World Cup Champions and are still a very dangerous team but can they repeat? Players like Homare Sawa (6th World Cup) and Aya Miyama are still prominent but do they have enough scoring punch? Netherlands, opened up group play and looked quite good with Maron Melis, Vivianne Miedema and Lieke Martens up front in their 3 front…but since that game, they have looked just okay and suspect defensively. Japan will get through to the quarter-finals!

Norway – England - Norway didn’t lose a game in group play, drawing with Germany but finishing second on goal difference. They have some good players who have grown in this tournament; Ada Hegerberg; Maren Mjelde and Isabell Herlovsen. England played very conservatively against France losing 1-0 and then beat Mexico 2-1 and finished with a 2-1 win vs Colombia to take second place in Group F. Their most exciting players have been veteran Karen Carney and world cup rookie Fran Kirby, but will they have enough to get by a World Cup veteran coach in Even Pellerud? I think not…Norway ends England’s World Cup in penalties… of course!

Canada – Switzerland - Switzerland has looked impressive with a real eye to score goals, 10 in one game vs Ecuador. Watch Ramona Bachmann… she is fast and dangerous but squanders lot of chances. Lara Dickenmann is also dangerous. Canada scored only 2 goals in group play (1 from the penalty spot) and that was good enough to get them through as group winners but the host team has to do more if they want to be in Vancouver on July 5th.

Christine Sinclair, 3rd all time scorer behind Abby Wambach and Mia Hamm, has not looked world class and there just isn’t a good enough supporting cast if she isn't scoring. They do have a young world class defender in 19 year-old Kadeisha Buchanan and a solid goalkeeper in Erin Mcleod and because they will have 50,000+ fans cheering them on, I give Canada the nod to get past Switzerland.

Wrap Up

So that is the Round of 16 match-ups… Every game is on Fox, Fox Sports 1 or Fox Sports 2 so tune in. You can go to FoxSports FIFAWorld Cup and get a complete World Cup television broadcast schedule

Best,

Tony DiCicco

Soccer Champions Coaches' Clinic Co-Founder