June 15 through 17 will see all 6 groups complete group play. Today it's the finale for Groups A and B, I'll recap today's results and see what they mean for the Final Group Tables and possible knockout round matchups.
Group A contains hosts Canada, WWC 1999 runners up China, the only Oceania nation that had any respect in FIFA before Tahiti appeared in the Confederations Cup New Zealand, and debutantes Netherlands. With Canada 8, Netherlands 12, China 16, and New Zealand 17 in the womens rankings this seemed like a close group and that's what we got. 3 draws and 3 wins and all the wins coming in 1-0 scorelines. Despite a late goal from Kirsten van de Ven to give the Dutch a late 1-1 draw against hosts Canada, Canada and Netherlands finished the group with 5 and 4 points respectively. New Zealand had the lead, then China scored twice to make it 2-1 and New Zealand finished it 2-2 but unfortunately it wouldn't be enough for New Zealand with only 2 points
Finish Nation W-D-L GF GA GD
1st Canada 5 pts 1-2-0; 2 for, 1 against; +1
2nd China 4 pts 1-1-1; 3 for, 3 against; 0
3rd Netherlands 4 pts 1-1-1; 2 for, 2 against; 0
4th New Zealand 2 pts 0-2-1; 2 for, 3 against; -1
New Zealand never seem to be one of the stronger teams in the tournament, but they were far from a useless team. The points they earned were deserved, just not enough.
Netherlands will have to wait a day or two to see if they advance and what their opponent will be. It's very rare in this 24 team tournament format a team with 4 points gets snubbed and doesn't advance at least as one of the best 3rd place team. We know for sure one team (we'll get to them) is stuck on 3 points and 3rd place and from the looks of the other teams I'm confident another 3rd place team will be restricted to 3 points or less so Netherlands are in a good spot to advance. Unfortunately 3rd place teams must play against group winners and in this situation it could mean Germany or possibly Japan but hey not bad for a first World Cup.
China isn't at the height of their powers but they did well after missing out on the previous World Cup and dealing with a tricky group, especially after a brutal opening game losing on a last minute penalty against the hosts. If it raised questions about this team, they found the answers to collect 4 points in the remaining 2 games. As runners up of Group A they face the runners up of Group C in the Round of 16, and either Switzerland or Cameroon (can't rule out Japan, but they're playing Ecuador in their final game; they will not lose) have the ability to make it a challenging game but China will make it hard for their opponent as well, especially since China has more WC experience than the Swiss or Cameroon.
Canada is set to face a 3rd place team from Groups C, D, or E, which could mean Cameroon, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, or others. It's been a mixed back for the hosts so far. There's no doubt in their quality as much as it is concerns about consistency. Will they be able to play at the level of a World Cup winner contender for four games in a row? I doubt it at this point but if it all clicks Canada could go very far.
Group B: Germany, Norway, Thailand, and Cote D'Ivoire. Germany and Norway have 3 Women's World Cups between them (2 for Germany, 1 for Norway) and are pretty much royalty at this stage. Thailand and Cote D'Ivoire newcomers as well as outsiders. Since the rankings have existed Germany and USA have almost exclusively swapped the 1 and 2 positions. They come into this tournament as the #1 team due to an impressive string of results as well as some stumbles by the USWNT. Norway placing just outside the top 10 at #11, Thailand at 29 and Les Elephantes at 67 clocking in as the lowest ranked team in this tournament, 14 spots behind Costa Rica the 2nd lowest.
It looked like it would be a textbook 9-6-3-0 group with Thailand or Cote D'Ivoire left gasping at straws to finish in 3rd and hope to advance from there, but Norway pulled off a 1-1 shock draw against Germany. Thailand took hold of a valuable 3 points in a 3-2 win over the African nation. In the final set of games, Thailand lost 4-0 to the two time (six if you include men AND women) champions while the Norwegians beat Cote D'Ivoire 3-1. Germany's opening 10-1 victory over Cote D'Ivoire (though I'm sure it didn't feel as bad as the Brazilian men felt after the 7-1 loss to Germany last summer) gave it the goal difference boost it needed to top the group.
1st Germany 7 pts 2-1-0; 15 for, 1 against; +14
2nd Norway 7 pts 2-1-0; 8 for, 2 against; +6
3rd Thailand 3 pts 1-0-2; 3 for, 10 against; -7
4th Cote D'Ivoire 0 pts 0-0-3; 3 for, 16 against; -13
Sure the group draw was kinda brutal to Cote D'Ivoire but it could've been worse. I doubt they would've wanted to switch groups with Nigeria, but possibly it would've fared between switching with Cameroon. This first World Cup for them must be the equivalent of ripping a band-aid off: painful, but quick.
Thailand could have done worse but at least they didn't finish last. That being said, it is quite possible they do not advance from the group phase. The margins are thin; every point and goal differential counts, and with only 3 points and a -7 goal difference that's not a healthy resume, especially with 3rd place candidates like Cameroon, Australia, Sweden, France, England, and Colombia waiting.
Norway may be known for white snow but their role in this tournament is as a dark horse. Good news is they face a group runner up next round. Bad news is, that team will be coming from Group F. England and France are not to be taken lightly and Colombia is a surprise package, so Norway will have to hope that the 1-1 draw against Germany is assurance enough that they can carve out a few more good results in this tournament. And in the knockout stage, the only good result is victory.
Not only are the Netherlands anxious about whether or not they will advance, they are likely very nervously hoping they do not face Germany. Germany faces the 3rd place team from either Group A, C, or D. The toughest opponent Germany would face would come out of Group D. Imagine a Germany vs Sweden matchup right out of the gate in the knockout stages. That would be fun. Needless to say though the Germans are favorites against almost any team in the tournament. They are number one after all. But they are not invincible.
That's it for now. Tomorrow I'll cover the conclusions of Groups C and D and we'll have more of the knockout round picture complete.
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