Women’s World Cup: How they match up in Saturday quarterfinals
England’s Alex Greenwood, left, and Canada’s Melissa Tancredi battle for possession of the ball during an exhibition game on May 28 in Ontario, Canada.
Women’s World Cup quarterfinal games on Saturday:
JAPAN VS. AUSTRALIA
Where: Edmonton. Time: 1 p.m. PDT. TV: FS1, Telemundo.
The buzz: Japan, the defending World Cup champion, has been all but flawless defensively with its three-keeper rotation allowing just two scores — and the second was a fluke goal in stoppage time in its round of 16 win over the Netherlands. Offensively, however, Japan has played just well enough to win, beating the Dutch on Mizuho Sakaguchi’s second-half goal, arguably the prettiest one of the tournament. Japan was one of only two teams to emerge from group play unbeaten and untied but that won’t intimidate Australia. The Aussies took down the other perfect team, Brazil, 1-0, in its last game.
CANADA VS. ENGLAND
Where: Vancouver. Time: 4:30 p.m. TV: FS1.
The buzz: Canada snapped a three-game losing streak to England with a 1-0 win in its final World Cup tuneup, a result that gives the home team a boost of confidence going into the rematch. A sold-out pro-Canadian crowd at BC Place will also help. Although Canada’s attack has sputtered here — its three goals are the fewest of any quarterfinalist — it has also shut out three of four opponents, allowing just one score in the tournament. England won its last three games by identical 2-1 counts. To win again, the English will need another standout performance from former Cal State Fullerton keeper Karen Bardsley, the player of the game in her team’s round of 16 upset of Norway.
