It is time for the eighth finals. Earlier this Saturday, Germany and Nigeria will enter the battlefield at the end of the afternoon, but in Nice in the evening Norway and Australia will find out who deserves a place in the quarterfinals. Who will England or Cameroon have to face in the quarterfinals next week?
Norway:
The Norwegian ladies are again emphatically present in the tournament, even with slightly less color. After a long soap, Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg decided not to play for her country anymore. The attacker played at the highest level and scored 130 goals at Olympique Lyon in 103 games. Nevertheless, the Norwegian team still went through with a second place to the eighth finals. Only one game was lost, leaving the Norwegians in second place.
They started the group phase in Reims against Nigeria, the number 38 in the world ranking. The Nigerians are not a big name in women’s football and Norway set them aside without any problems. It went 3-0 into the break and after a boring second half that also became the final score. Then host country France was waiting, the biggest challenge for the Norwegian team. Just before half-time the French scored, but ten minutes after half-time the score was level again due to a clumsy own goal. Later that game, Norwegian defender Syrstad Engen kicked the ball away, but also hit a French leg. The VAR intervened and gave a penalty and Norway lost. Yet the Norwegian women recovered. This time the arbitration was good for Norway and it came to two penalties, which enabled them to win 2-1. Caroline Hansen made the first, but got injured at the second moment. Isabell Herlovsen made the other.
Australia:
Phenomenal, unprecedented and unstoppable. If I had to point out the tournament revelation so far, I would go for Samantha Kerr. Kerr is Australia’s 25-year-old attacker. She still plays in her own country as a club, but the captain broke the records. She already has several prizes to her name and the expectations of her were high in this tournament. Yet the first hurdle is now a thing of the past. Australia, led by Kerr, went on to the knockout phase after three games in a daring pool.
Australia started the tournament with an unnecessary loss against Italy. They dominated the ball, shots, but also the passes were better in the opening game. They even took the lead thanks to Kerr. However, Italy tied the score in the 56th minute and in the 94th minute it even became 1-2 for Italy after a moderate performance by the Australian goalkeeper. Against Brazil, The Matildas were already 0-2 behind after forty minutes, but they turned the game to 3-2. A resilient Australia took a big step towards the knockouts by grabbing three points against the Brazilian women. Kerr really showed himself in the third game by scoring four goals against Jamaica. Every goal was desperately needed, because if the captain had stopped at a hat trick, then Australia had to face France. With the four goals she is now on the top scorers equal to Alex Morgan from the US (also 5 out of 3).
