Kang Yu-mi fights for a ball in South Korea’s historic win over Spain. (Getty Images)
Neil W. Blackmon
The 2015 FIFA Womens’ World Cup group stages ended yesterday with a flourish, capping an excellent twelve days of soccer and setting up an intensely competitive knockout stage bracket full of intriguing matchups and potential matchups.
The key takeaways from Day 12?
A dominating performance from one of the pre-tournament favorites, France, who had struggled until yesterday’s 5-0 rout of Mexico.
The French looked very much the part of the world’s #3 team and a team capable of winning the tournament, routing El Tri to capture Group F and land on the US side of the bracket. It’s a long way until a potential semifinal matchup with the Americans, who beat them at the Algarve Cup in the spring, but the French have to feel confidence again after routing Mexico.
It was interesting that Les Bleues won without influential playmaker Louisa Necib, who arrived in Canada coming off injury and hasn’t looked herself in the tournament. France manager Philippe Bergeroo has been unusually quiet about whether Necib was benched for ineffectiveness or for her on-field histrionics during the France loss to Colombia in the second match of the group stages, but whatever the reason, the French must feel better knowing they can not only win without Necib but thoroughly dominate a game without her. Whether France can dominate without Necib’s influence against better competition in the knockout stages is still probably a question the French don’t want to answer, but yesterday was a great way to enter the single-elimination phase of the tournament.
South Korea advance in Group E by beating Spain, and suddenly the US struggles at Red Bull Arena look less toxic.
South Korea have been a side American fans have been watching with a turned and engaged eye during the Women’s World Cup. The Koreans pushed the Americans at Red Bull Arena to close the Send-Off Series, drawing the Yanks and asking questions of all the American weaknesses, from the unidimensional, narrow and direct long-ball attack to the lack of a defensive midfielder to the question-marks at fullback. The argument was as simple as it is unoriginal: If the Americans couldn’t handle South Korea on home soil, they were in trouble.
But hey- you don’t have to make novel arguments to be right. And maybe, in a week or two, we’ll all say that was right. It’s just difficult to argue that at present. The Koreans were one of the most pleasant surprises of the group stages, pushing Brazil for the final 30 minutes in their opening match, drawing a thrilling match with a good Costa Rica side and finally, after struggling early, dictating entirely second-half proceedings yesterday in defeating pre-tournament darling Spain.
Much will and is being written and said about Spain’s failures and disappointments in Canada, but the story is South Korea’s dazzling play. The Koreans have shown resolve, outplaying every opponent in the second half, but that was to be expected as grit and grind is as much a Korean footballing identity as it is an American one. More impressive than the expected industry of the Koreans has been the play of the midfield, particularly on the break. The Taeguk Ladies brilliantly let Spain do the running, and when La Roja missed passes, defensive midfield stopper Cho So Hyun was quick in her distributions, particularly to Chelsea 10 Ji So-yun. This isn’t a groundbreaking formula nor one that wasn’t predictable: what’s been special is how effective the Koreans have been at executing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpEhKanuIIA
Yesterday, a late running Cho So Hyun buried a header on a brilliant ball from Kang Yu-mi to finish a counter and equalize proceedings, a deflating blow against a Spain side that had controlled the first half, and it was from also the same spot that Kim Soo-yun finished Spain off, scoring an “excuse-me” goal on a lobbed ball from the right. Whether she intended to score or not, the result was fully just and Spain tumbled out of the competition while Korea advance to play resurgent France Sunday in Montreal.
Finally, the knockout stage bracket is splendid, a stand-alone rebuttal to the foolish hot-take claim that expanding the field “watered-down” the tournament.
The largest advocate of the “expanding the field to 24 has caused the tournament to be watered-down” chain of argument? None other than Men In Blazers, the extraordinarily popular but almost exclusively men’s soccer show. Darlings of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, they’ve shown almost as much ignorance analyzing the Women’s World Cup as they showed excellence analyzing the men’s.
They haven’t been completely lost- recognizing who the best US player in Canada has been amidst the Julie Johnston hysteria is commendable:
Most consistent US player no one is talking about that everyone should be talking about: @beckysauerbrunn #Unflappable
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) June 17, 2015
But arguing that FIFA’s expansion of the field has hurt the tournament flies in the face of reason and facts, which tend to be important things for engaging in analysis.
The tournament has seen the largest upset in FIFA Women’s World Cup history in Colombia beating France. It has seen multiple pre-tournament darlings or favorites stumble: Sweden didn’t win a match, ditto Spain, Canada won a group scoring twice. And it now features a knockout stage bracket fearsome as a Hitchcock film, with three of the world’s top five sides on one half of the draw and the defending World Champions on the other.
It’s an argument we loathe when caught up in the minutiae of tactics and statistical trends and heat maps, but the reality is the parity in Canada emphasizes a larger point to the public writ-large, long-understood in soccer circles: the world has caught up to the US in women’s soccer. And that’s a good thing. Winning a World Cup is supposed to be hard. Not knowing what will happen next is the fun part. And we certainly do not know what will happen if we get a quarterfinal round with these matchups…
https://twitter.com/ThatDamnYank/status/611293128490795008
That’s star power across the board. But in a nod to parity, it is hardly guaranteed. The Round of 16 matchups present several upset possibilities.
South Korea can beat a France side who in Canada have looked vulnerable on the counter, a Taeguk Lady strength.
Alex Greenwood has helped England off the bench, giving the team depth it hasn’t had in the past.
England have advanced again to the knockout stages of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and it seems only a matter of time before they breakthrough. They’ve also looked resolute in defense throughout the tournament and won’t be intimidated by a Norway side they are familiar with. The English have more depth than ever before thanks to influential substitutes like Alex Greenwood and Mark Sampson has them playing with confidence. Not hard to see an upset in that fixture.
It’s hard to imagine the United States slipping up against Colombia, except that Colombia beat a French team that humbled the US this spring.
Cameroon have scored goals whenever they have wanted to score goals in this tournament, and stood eyeball to eyeball, arms akimbo with world champion Japan in the group stage. They’ll give China fits.
Brazil have looked the part of a champion in the group stage, but look closer and you’ll see a side that hasn’t seen an attack as formidable as the Matildas group they’ll play Sunday in Moncton. That match, by the way, likely the coolest thing to happen in Moncton since Paul Schafer and the CBS orchestra dropped by to play Mannheim Steamroller Christmas hits in December 1992.
Switzerland get Canada, who have looked less than convincing as the host nation. The Swiss tested Japan in their opening match and have the midfield bite to complicated things for the hosts.
Germany, the world #1, get Sweden, the world #5. That’s a round of 16 match. I don’t really need to elucidate more details about why the Swedes can send the Germans home.
The Netherlands will be the best side, talent-wise, Japan have seen. And they’ll play with great confidence after securing the draw against host Canada they needed to be here.
All in all, eight matches where an argument can be made for a different winner in each. That’s not a watered-down field. That’s fun.
Neil W. Blackmon is Co-Founder of The Yanks Are Coming. He can be reached at nwblackmon@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @nwblackmon.