On Sunday at the Women’s World Cup, Group A was wrapped up and three Gunners confirmed their passage into the round of 16. Switzerland were captained by Lia Wälti once more with Noelle Maritz also playing the full game. The Swiss only needed a draw to top the group with five points and they did just that, holding co-hosts New Zealand to a 0-0 draw in Dunedin.
In the other game in Group A, that meant Norway had to beat Philippines by two clear goals to qualify and they managed it with ease. Frida Maanum played for 68 minutes and provided an assist as the Norwegians were 6-0 winners. Norway will play the winners of Japan v Spain in the round of 16 while Switzerland will play the losers of that game. If Japan v Spain ends as a draw, then Switzerland will play Spain and Japan will play Norway.
QUALIFIED! 🔥
Das Remis reicht, die Schweiz gewinnt die Gruppe A und steht im Achtelfinal!
Le nul suffit, la Suisse remporte le Groupe A et passe en huitièmes de finale!
Il pareggio basta, la Svizzera vince il Gruppo A e vola agli ottavi!🔜🇨🇭🆚 🇪🇸/🇯🇵 📆5.8, 7:00 CET 🏟️ Auckland pic.twitter.com/DXwqMlwBoT
— 🇨🇭 Nati (@nati_sfv_asf) July 30, 2023
Elsewhere, there were surprises as Morocco beat South Korea 1-0 while Colombia produced possibly the performance of the tournament, last year’s Copa America finalists defeated Germany 2-1 in Sydney with goals from 18-year-old wonderkid Linda Caicedo and a 96th minute winner from Manuela Vanegas.
There is plenty of Arsenal action as Group B comes to an end tomorrow, Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord square off for Australia against Sabrina D’Angelo and Cloe Lacasse’s Canada in a crunch encounter at 11am. Katie McCabe will skipper Ireland against Nigeria at the same time as Ireland play their final game of this year’s competition.
Thanks for the round up! Basically missed the whole tournament bc the gametimes here in the US are so bad. Organized an office bracket but no one can watch games. 😅 O well no matter what will happen to somebody being a worldwide spectacle and all.
Hope Arsenal does everything needed to buy little girl Caicedo. Great improvement on the Caicedo we wanted for the men team.
Another very solid performance by Noëlle at CB.
She is just so reliable, isn’t she? The Swiss reverted to type a bit with a very conservative performance but you can’t argue with topping the group. Although facing Japan or Spain in the next round is a toughie.