Women’s World Cup newest information and updates as Netherlands finish South Africa run

In case you missed the information in a single day, Keira Walsh has returned to full England coaching forward of the Women’s World Cup last-16 match towards Nigeria on Monday, simply days after the Lionesses midfielder was stretchered off towards Denmark.

It was confirmed that Walsh had not suffered an ACL harm after she was left on crutches following England’s second match of the World Cup, though the Champions League winner remained with the squad following scans.

Walsh missed England’s 6-1 win over China within the remaining match of Group C, with Sarina Wiegman altering her formation to a 3-5-2 within the midfielder’s absence, however her fast return to coaching has boosted hopes that the 26-year-old might play once more on the event.

Wiegman will give an replace as as to whether Walsh can be obtainable for choice at her press convention in Brisbane in a while Sunday, with England going through Nigeria within the last-16 conflict the next day.

United States coach Vlatko Andonovski mounted an impassioned defence of his staff’s requirements and mentioned criticism of their World Cup marketing campaign was unfair because the defending champions put together for Sunday’s spherical of 16 conflict towards Sweden.

The USA head into their first knock-out conflict in Melbourne beneath fireplace after having scraped via the group section with attracts towards the Netherlands and Portugal.

Retired USA nice Carli Lloyd gave a scathing evaluation of the Portugal recreation, saying the publish that saved the Americans in stoppage time was “player of the match”.

Andonovski mentioned the criticism was out of order: “For someone again to question the standards …. and mindset of this team after everything that they do, I personally don’t think it’s the right time to do that,” he informed reporters on Saturday.

“And I don’t think it’s the right thing as well. I’m very happy with where they’re (the players) at, how they hold themselves accountable and they keep raising the standards.”

In-form Sweden are assured they’ll beat holders United States in Sunday’s Women’s World Cup final 16 tie once they go head-to-head on Sunday, the newest in an extended listing of clashes between the 2 heavyweights at main tournaments.

The two groups have met in six earlier editions of the World Cup, every time within the group stage. Sweden ended the Americans’ 2016 Rio Olympic run within the quarter-final and received 3-0 within the group stage on the 2021 Tokyo Games.

They had contrasting routes to this 12 months’s knockout stage, with Sweden topping their group with an ideal report whereas the U.S. scraped via after ending runners-up. But the third-ranked Swedes aren’t anticipating something lower than one of the best.

“I don’t care about favourites and things like that,” coach Peter Gerhardsson mentioned. “We have the possibility to win the game, and that’s the most important thing… We know what we’re up against.

“You can talk about revenge or underdog mentality. For me, that’s not going to make the difference tomorrow. It’s the players who play. The history is nothing.

“I have great confidence in this squad and in all the preparations that we’ve made… Our feeling is that we believe we can win this game.”

South Africa’s gamers soaked within the applause on the finish; though defeated by the Netherlands, they left the Women’s World Cup with their heads held excessive. After reaching the knockout phases of the World Cup for the primary time, a spot within the quarter-finals proved to be a step too far however solely after they pushed the 2019 runners-up in a contest that might have performed out very otherwise on one other day. It took a sensational efficiency from Netherlands goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar to finish South Africa’s dream run.

Van Domselaar was very good, participant of the match after denying the wonderful Thembi Kgatlana whereas she threatened to tear the Netherlands aside. Kgatlana was electrical, with the noise contained in the stadium rising because the waves of South Africa counter-attacks rolled in the direction of aim, Despite Jill Roord’s early opener, the equaliser felt prefer it was coming so long as Kgatlana might repeatedly run on the terrified Dutch defence. A Netherlands system and philosophy that’s constructed on possession and management might do nothing to cease the South Africa captain as soon as she took off.

But fortunately for the Netherlands, they nonetheless had Van Domselaar, and with out her this last-16 tie might have veered astray.

South Africa coach Desiree Ellis: “We knew we had to score more goals and the chances we had in the first half we could have been out of sight. Yesterday we spoke about underdogs but we have shown at the World Cup that there are no underdogs.”

Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker: “If you said to me before the tournament that Germany and Brazil would be out before the last-16 I wouldn’t have believed you, I wouldn’t have believed that these big teams could be upset and I didn’t expect the other sides to close the gap.”

Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker: “We deserved to win. We played well to start but then we started to play against ourselves. We lost too many balls and helped them play on the counter-attack. But in the end we deserved to win.”

South Africa will go away with their heads held excessive – however Kaylin Swart seems devastated after her error.

Four objectives now for Jill Roord, which places her in a tie for second place within the golden boot standings.

The Netherlands can be with out Daniëlle van de Donk within the quarter-finals, with the Lyon participant in tears on the finish after selecting up her second yellow card of the event.