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Well that was... exciting yesterday. At least Spain can’t kick Alex Morgan anymore and that whole Canadian idea that goals are bad was shown as a pretty flawed concept. Anyway, the Round o 1-6 will march on with two up and coming women’s teams taking on two sides who are more familiar faces in the World Cup.
Things will get underway with one of the most surprising teams in the tournament taking on another who is a regular Round of 16 participant with Italy vs. China. The Italians quite won the most entertaining group in the Tournament for my money. Though they lost to Brazil on the final matchday, Italy showed that their run of 9 games undefeated in the Euro qualifiers and eventual loss in the final of the Cyprus Cup was no fluke. While China reached the quarter-final in both the 2015 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, both times falling to the eventual champions of the respective tournaments, they struggled in the group in 2019. China won only one match and scored just one goal in the three matches.
The Netherlands will then take on Japan later in the day. The Dutch sport a high-flying attack and while there have been questions about the backline, they only allowed two goals in the group. The stadium will be filled with Orange shirts as the Dutch supporters have taken over France en masse over the course of the tournament. Japan, meanwhile, had a bit of an uneven showing in the group. The team drew to Argentina 0-0, got past Scotland fairly easily 2-1, and then fell to England 2-0. It feels like this might be where Japan gets sent home, but it will be interesting to see if the fan support and expectations on Holland weigh on the team going into a huge match.
How To Watch
Match 1
Who: Italy vs China
Where: Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
When: 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: FS1 & Telemundo
Match 2
Who: Netherlands vs Japan
Where: Roazhon Park, Rennes
When: 3 p.m. ET
TV: FS1 & Telemundo
Open Thread
Be nice.