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It’s time for the Women’s World Cup semifinals.
The United States will not repeat as World Cup champions after losing in a penalty-kick shootout to Sweden in the round of 16. Spain defeated the Netherlands and Sweden ousted Japan on Friday to advance to the semifinals. England will play Australia in the other semifinal.
Here’s a look at what comes next at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand:
WORLD CUP SEMIFINALS
The buzz: Sweden is the giant-killer of this tournament, having sent the U.S. and Japan packing in the knockout stages to reach the semifinals for the third time in the last four World Cups. And the third-ranked Swedes — the highest-ranked team remaining — have done it with a stifling defense and opportunistic offense.
Of the four teams remaining, only England has conceded fewer goals than Sweden, which has allowed two, and eight of its 11 scores have come off set pieces, most in the tournament. Defender Amanda Ilestedt is tied for second in the Golden Boot race with four goals, all coming off set pieces. Sweden is the only semifinalist to have played in a World Cup final, losing to Germany in 2003.
Spain, meanwhile, has overcome internal turmoil and a 4-0 loss to Japan in the group stage to reach the semifinals for the first time. Last fall 15 national team players threatened to quit the team unless coach Jorge Vilda was fired. Vilda stayed and most of the players returned but it has hardly been a happy group.
La Roja moved out of its New Zealand base camp in Palmerston North early, with the players claiming they were bored, and Spain is the only one of the final four teams that did not win its group.
Spain’s 15 goals are most among the final four, but so is its six goals conceded. Three players — Aitana Bonmatí, Jennifer Hermoso and Alba Redondo — share the team’s scoring lead with three goals apiece while Bonmatí and Hermoso each have two assists.
The buzz: This has already been a historic tournament for Australia, which has made it to the semifinals for the first time. Now it has a chance to become just the second host nation — after the U.S. in 1999 — to win a women’s World Cup, but first it has to get by England, the reigning European champion and a semifinalist four years ago.
The Matildas have gotten a big boost from the home-field advantage, twice playing before crowds of more than 75,000 in a tournament with an average attendance of 28,900. But it also got a boost from the return of captain and leading scorer Sam Kerr, who missed the group stage with a calf injury but has played 75 minutes off the bench in the knockout stages, contributing a successful penalty-kick try in Australia’s 10-round tiebreaking shootout win over France in the quarterfinals.
Hayley Raso led the attack in Kerr’s absence, scoring three times. England, among the pre-tournament favorites after its Euro win last summer, has lost just once in the past 29 months — that coming to Australia last April. And the Lionesses have struggled here, needing a penalty-kick goal to be Haiti and slipping past Denmark 1-0 in the group stage; eliminating Nigeria on penalties after playing to a scoreless draw over 120 minutes in the round of 16; then rallying to beat Colombia in the quarterfinals.
To make matters worse, the team will again be without playmaker Lauren James, who was suspended by FIFA for a second game for her stomp on Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie in the round of 16. James leads England with three goals and is tied for the tournament lead with three assists.
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Kevin Baxter writes about soccer and other things for the Los Angeles Times, where he has worked for 27 years. He has covered seven World Cups, four Olympic Games, six World Series and a Super Bowl and has contributed to three Pulitzer Prize-winning series at The Times and Miami Herald. An essay he wrote in fifth grade was voted best in the class. He has a cool dog.
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