Despite being a host country and winning its first match, Australia has so far been “pure unlucky” at this Women’s World Cup, according to its coach. It lost its biggest star, Sam Kerr, before play commenced. It lost two more players ahead of its second match on Thursday, against a plucky Nigerian team. Australia will have to rely on its depth to see it through to the round of 16, and hope for its fortunes to change — perhaps with the return of Kerr.
Thursday’s World Cup matches feature unlikely upstarts who faced top contenders in their opening games and fared better than most expectations. The most successful of those teams so far is Nigeria, which held Canada scoreless in a draw and has an opportunity to exploit Australia’s injuries.
Portugal vs. Vietnam
Portugal looked much more comfortable in a 2-0 win against Vietnam than it did in an opening loss to the Netherlands.
Telma Encarnação scored a goal in the seventh minute and Kika Nazareth added another soon after that showcased Portugal’s easy control of the match.
It will be very difficult for Portugal to win its next game, which is against a United States team that is tied atop the group standings with the Netherlands. But the Portuguese could also make things tough on the Americans, who will want to score to get out of Group E in first place.
Australia vs. Nigeria
Australia will be without star striker Sam Kerr for a second straight game. It was unclear when Kerr, who suffered a calf injury in training ahead of the opening game, might return. Adding insult to injury, forward Mary Fowler, who had replaced Kerr in the lineup, and defender Aivi Luik are both out with concussions, also sustained in practice. Coach Tony Gustavsson described the situation as “pure unlucky” and said that while Fowler and Luik have recovered, they have to complete the process of the concussion protocols, which will keep them out of Thursday’s game against Nigeria.
That leaves Australia to rely on its depth in a matchup with a team that held Canada scoreless last week. In its opening win over Ireland, Australia struggled to create scoring opportunities, with its lone goal coming off a penalty. Nigeria is emerging as a threat after its performance against Canada, but is also no stranger to the World Cup stage — the Nigerians advanced to the round of 16 in 2019 and have qualified for all nine World Cup tournaments.
Argentina vs. South Africa
South Africa shocked Sweden in its opening match of this World Cup, scoring in the 48th minute to take the lead over a team that is hoping to contend for the title. While the Swedes eventually eked out a win, 2-1, South Africa proved its pluckiness and will be looking for its first World Cup win when it takes on Argentina on Friday in Dunedin, New Zealand (Thursday night Eastern time).
Argentina is facing a quick turnaround from its 1-0 loss to Italy on Monday. Playing in its fourth World Cup, Argentina is still hunting for its first-ever win. The Argentines have arguably their best shot at 3 points against South Africa, with top-ranked Sweden up next.
They pushed and they shoved. They gave as well as they got. They traded shots and then they traded goals. But through 90 supremely physical — and at times thrilling — minutes on Thursday, the United States and the Netherlands could not separate themselves at the Women’s World Cup.
And so they walked off after the most eagerly anticipated game of the group stage with a 1-1 draw that will have to be good enough.
The Netherlands, which scored first, may regret that it didn’t come away with a win. But not too much. “I think we’re definitely not unhappy,” Jill Roord, who scored her team’s goal, said of the mood in the dressing room.
The United States, which produced far more scoring chances, may feel it deserved one. Its goal, from Lindsey Horan, came after several good opportunities and was followed by a half-dozen more. “At that point it was our game,” Coach Vlatko Andonovski said. “And I’m just disappointed that we didn’t score more than one.”
The United States and the Netherlands know each other well, of course. This game was a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final, but also of a second meeting, a year later, in the Netherlands, and a third at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. The United States won all of those games. But even its playmaker, Rose Lavelle, admitted that these were different teams, with different coaches and different styles. So perhaps it was not a surprise that the result was different, too.
The game at Sky Stadium was a bruising affair, a frigid day marked by tough tackles and professional fouls that at times felt it was only a moment or two away from boiling over. In the end, though, it was decided by two small moments.
The first was a slip by U.S. defender Crystal Dunn in the 17th minute that set off a scramble finished by a hard, low shot by Roord that sneaked past U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher.
The second moment, the United States’ response, came after yet another hard foul in the 62nd minute. Dropped by a tackle in front of her team’s bench, Horan, the U.S. co-captain, dusted herself off, strode straight to the middle of the penalty area for a corner kick by Lavelle, and then threw herself at it to deliver the header that tied the score.
The United States pressed relentlessly for a winner from there, but the Netherlands — seasoned by history, improved by its past encounters against the Americans — hunkered down and fought off every one of them.
The result left the teams tied atop Group E with 4 points from a win and a draw, and crunching the math that it will take to win the group and reach the knockout rounds. For now, that edge goes to the Americans on goal difference, plus-3 to plus-1, but that could change over the final group games.
The United States will face Portugal on Tuesday, a game that will be played simultaneously with the Netherlands’ game against Vietnam. The Americans and the Dutch will not see each other again unless they both reach the final. Gritty performances like Thursday’s suggest that both teams may have the mettle to hang around for a while.
Nothing is 100 percent certain, of course, but the chances are highly likely that the United States and the Netherlands will both get through their World Cup group and into the round of 16. But the question of who places first and who places second is going to be complicated, and its implications are not trivial.
The competitive part of it will be of utmost concern to the teams. The first-place team could face an easier path in the knockout rounds than the runner-up: a game against a youthful Italian team in the round of 16, say, rather a showdown with Sweden, a title contender that reached the final at the Tokyo Olympics and finished third in the 2019 World Cup.
Beyond the matchups, there are practical and logistical issues for the teams, and their fans, as well — from flights to hotel reservations to match tickets. All of those are now dependent on the results of the final group games on Tuesday. And then there is the broadcast schedule.
For fans in America, for example, the United States’ finish in the group means the difference between watching a round-of-16 game in the evening hours, or in the middle of the night. Thursday’s tie between the United States and the Netherlands means none of that will be locked in until Tuesday, when the scores will set the standings, and the race to prepare for the next round will begin.
