2023 Women’s World Cup Cup, Round of 16 Day 1: Match thread and discussion

The knockout stage of the 2023 Women’s World Cup is here, and 16 teams are left to fight for the trophy. Today, 3 teams will punch their ticket to the quarterfinals, while 3 others will see their dream end.

It’s been a wild group stage, with several contenders struggling and others even failing to make it out of the group. There are also some team that surprised everyone in winning their groups or advancing, and we’ll see a couple of those teams today.

In the first match, Switzerland, Group A winners, will take on Spain, who were the runners-up in Group C. Switzerland was a big surprise for everyone in winning Group A, which featured co-hosts New Zealand and 1995 champions Norway, but they have their work cut out for them against a Spain team that looked really good until their final group stage match. Spain has been viewed as one of the true contenders in this tournament, so this match should be a battle of offensive prowess versus a stout defense.

In the second match, Group C winners Japan have looked incredible so far in this tournament. They are one of just 3 teams to have a perfect 3 wins in the group stage of this tournament. Their reward? Facing Norway, who finally woke up in their final group stage match and hope to keep the scoring going against Japan.

In the match later this evening, we’ll see the Netherlands take on South Africa in a historical battle between the two nations. The Netherlands had a final day onslaught of goals to clinch Group F, which included the USWNT and they’ll face South Africa, who would love to pull off the upset against the Netherlands for historical reasons. The winner of all 3 matches will move onto the quarterfinals, but these are going to be some serious Round of 16 matches where any team can win. This tournament has been fun so far, and this feels like the Round of 16 will keep that up.

How to watch

Switzerland vs. Spain

Location: Eden Park, Auckland

Kick-off time: 1:00am Eastern, 10:00pm Pacific

Available TV: FS1 (English), Universo (Spanish)

Available streaming: Fox Sports (App/Website), Peacock (App/Website), Univision Now (App/Website), FuboTV (Free Trial)

Japan vs. Norway

Location: Sky Stadium, Wellington

Kick-off time: 4:00am Eastern, 1:00am Pacific

Available TV: FS1 (English), Telemundo (Spanish)

Available streaming: Fox Sports (App/Website), Peacock (App/Website), Telemundo (App/Website), FuboTV (Free Trial)

Netherlands vs. South Africa

Location: Allianz Stadium, Sydney

Kick-off time: 10:00pm Eastern, 7:00pm Pacific

Available TV: Fox (English), Telemundo (Spanish)

Available streaming: Fox Sports (App/Website), Peacock (App/Website), Telemundo (App/Website), Univision Now (App/Website), FuboTV (Free Trial)

This thread will be your match thread. We don’t have many rules here. We just ask that you don’t insult each other personally and treat each other with respect. Debates can get heated and that’s fine, but name-calling and petty insults will get you banned. If you see a comment that you feel is out of line, please report it and it will be dealt with.