Four Utah Royals FC players will be moving on to the knockout stage of the FIFA Women's World Cup in France, while two players' teams have been eliminated.
Becky Sauerbrunn, Christen Press and Kelley O'Hara have helped the United States Women's National Team move on as they went undefeated in Group F, while Desiree Scott and Canada are also among the final 16 teams remaining, having finished second in Group E.
Rachel Corsie's Scotland and Katie Bowen's New Zealand have been eliminated.
The USWNT rolled through group play, finishing with 18 goals (a record for the group stage) while giving up none. The squad beat Sweden 2-0 on Thursday afternoon to finish things off, with Sauerbrunn and O'Hara getting the start and Press coming on as a substitute in the second half.
AP
Sweden's Kosovare Asllani, left, and United States' Becky Sauerbrunn challenge for the ball during the Women's World Cup Group F soccer match between the United States and Sweden at the Stade Oceane in Le Havre, France, Thursday, June 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Canada had its place in the knockout round secured entering its final group match Thursday against Netherlands, which it lost 2-1 after leading 1-0 at halftime.
Netherlands ended up winning Group E (the top two teams in each of the six groups advanced, as did the four best third-place teams).
While neither Scotland nor New Zealand ended up winning a game, the manner in which they were both officially eliminated was rather heartbreaking.
Scotland was up 3-0 in its final Group D game against Argentina on Wednesday before giving up three goals in the final 20 minutes, including a re-kicked penalty in the 94th minute after video-assisted review showed Scotland goalkeeper Lee Alexander was off her line.
It was the latest of numerous instances throughout the tournament in which a VAR ruling has been seen as controversial after many people lobbied for it to be used for the first time in the Women's World Cup.
As for New Zealand, it still had a chance to finish third in Group E heading into its final game Thursday against Cameroon and hope for a spot in the knockout round, but lost 2-1 thanks to a goal from Ajara Nchout on the last kick of the game (although they surely wouldn't have moved on with just a draw).
The first round of knockout games will be held from Saturday to next Wednesday, with both the USWNT and Canada scheduled to play on Monday. The USWNT will play Spain at 10 a.m. MT in Reims, and Canada will face Sweden at 1 p.m. MT in Paris.
Both contests will air on FS1.
It is not immediately clear when Corsie and Bowen might return to the United States to play for URFC. The World Cup final will be held July 7 in Lyon.
URFC will face Portland Thorns FC in a late game (9 p.m. MT) Friday night on the road coming off a 1-0 win against Sky Blue FC last weekend. URFC is second in the National Women's Soccer League table behind the Washington Spirit, and Portland is third. Just two points separate the three teams.
In what is a significant loss, URFC will be without midfielder Vero Boquete because of the right ankle injury she suffered last weekend.
"Massively changes it," URFC head coach Laura Harvey said last weekend of what Boquete's presence does for the team's attack. "I think that just her ability on the ball to create space, the players in front of her have so much time to move because they're so comfortable that she's going to give it up."
On the plus side, URFC will get midfielder Lo'eau LaBonta back after she was suspended the last two games for kicking the Orlando Pride's Carson Pickett on May 25.
from Deseret News http://bit.ly/2KrWcav
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