Photo by USA Today Sports Images
By COLE KELLOGG
On the first day of round of 16 matchups in the 2015 Women’s World Cup, Germany routed an underwhelming Sweden side and China edged out Cameroon to take the first two spots in the tournament’s quarterfinals.
In the first match, Germany managed an emphatic 4-1 victory over Pia Sundhage’s Swedish team.
Anja Mittag scored first for the tournament favorites in the 24th minute, after some brilliant passing with Celia Sasic led to a 1-0 lead. Sasic was next to put one past Sweden, as her penalty found the back of the net after Mittag was brought down in the box.
Sasic was involved yet again in Germany’s third goal with 12 minutes remaining. The German headed home after an initial shot from Simone Laudher bounced off of a defender and the goalpost before finding it’s way into her path.
Sweden scored a consolation goal in the 82nd minute, when Sofia Jakobsson headed in a Therese Sjogran free kick. Any celebrations were short lived, though, as Dzsenifer Marozsan scored a fantastic solo effort to top off the win for the Germans.
In the second Round of 16 match, China was able to survive a 1-0 win over a tough Cameroon side. Both teams were gunning for a spot in the quarterfinals from the opening whistle.
It was China, however, that pulled in front with the game’s only goal in the 12th minute. Wang Shanshan hit a volley past the Cameroonian goalkeeper from a Li Dongna pass.
Cameroon’s Gaelle Enganamouit hit a dangerous free kick on to Gabrielle Onguene before halftime, but one of the Africans’ best efforts on the night merely grazed the side netting.
Germany will play the winners of France vs. South Korea on Friday, while China will face off against either the U.S. or Colombia on the same night.
Anyone else see the ridiculous comments by Linda Eriksson @Wosozone_Linda talking about how Pia Sundhage tried to shove the idea down her players’ throats that they were the best and they had a real chance of winning the World Cup. Not that that’s bad at all, as the FIFA #5 team they should have that belief. Anyway, her point was that this “American mentality” was not humble enough for Swedish culture and put too much pressure on the girls, ruining their chances in the World Cup. Once again, Europe finds a way to blame the US and our culture for their problems.
the swedish team was horrible, their best game was against USA in group play, the girls are too tall and are slow in transition. They also looked gassed in the 2nd half of every game, turf and humidity in Canada did them.
btw, I think Sweden women’s soccer is automatically out of the Olympics 2016 for not making it into at least the quarterfinals. EUFA has weird rules for the olympics based on the WC standings of the previous year. Sundage shouldve stayed with the US, but according to her the US players and their personality are too complicated… buh bye Pia.
The top 3 finishers in the WC from UEFA qualify for the Olympics. So Sweden isn’t completely out until two more UEFA teams (minus England, as Great Britain will not be fielding an Olympic squad) win their R16 game.