Yesterday brought quite a shock for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup with an upstart Japan club shocking the host country Germany with a 1-0 victory. It knocked the heavily favored Germans out of contention as Japan moved on to the semi-finals. More than that, it displayed that anything is possible for the teams remaining.
Today, four more teams hope to make their dreams come true by advancing, and the tournament play began at 6am CT with Sweden v. Australia at the Augsburg site. Sweden currently leads 2-1 at halftime, and the match can be seen on ESPN right now. ESPN3 is also carrying a live stream.
As for the second match, it begins at 10:30am CT and features the two remaining favorites: United States v. Brazil. Both have a history of success at the Women’s World Cup and they’ve split the last two matches they’ve played against each other. This should be a tough match overall with Brazil’s execution going against the United States big play ability. ESPN will carry the match in its entirety and begins coverage at 10am CT. ESPN3.com will also carry a live stream of this one.
The winners of both matches move on to Wednesday’s semi-final play.