Who are the stars of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup after the group stage?
The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup has seen entertaining matches, plenty of goals and VAR (video assistant referee) controversy.
As the tournament shifts into the single-elimination knockout rounds, let’s take a look at which players and teams have been the stars of the WWC in France.
Players
Alex Morgan
She scored five goals against Thailand in the United States’ opening group match before resting in the second match and only playing the first half against Sweden due to an injury. U.S. Women’s National Team coach Jill Ellis subbed Morgan out for Carli Lloyd as a preventative measure in the same manner she didn’t play Julie Ertz (hip contusion) against Sweden.
“Alex took a knock in the first half,” Ellis told reporters following a 2-0 victory over Sweden. “And I just think it was more of, ‘Let’s be smart about this’ in terms of what we did.”
Morgan’s health is a story line moving forward for the United States, but her Thailand performance was one for the record books as only Michelle Akers had previously scored that many goals in a Women’s World Cup match, doing so in 1991. Yes, Thailand was overmatched. But forwards are supposed to score. And Morgan was efficient.
Sam Kerr
A slow start to the tournament ended with a brilliant performance in Australia’s final group game for Kerr. Against Jamaica, she nearly tied Morgan’s five-goal game by scoring every goal in the Matildas’ 4-1 rout over the Reggae Girlz. Kerr’s poaching put her tied with Morgan in the golden boot race following the group stage.
The golden boot is given to the top scorer in the tournament. Kerr previously scored one goal in Australia’s other group games before the four-goal explosion against Jamaica.
Christiane Endler
On the flip side to the scoring prowess of attacking players, Chile’s inaugural foray in the WWC saw its biggest star in goal. The former USF standout was called into action throughout Chile’s group stage match against Team USA. The Stars and Stripes peppered the Chile keeper with shot after shot as the United States was clearly on another level from the South Americans.
Endler, though, stopped a lot of them. She drew praise on social media and from U.S. coach Jill Ellis. The Americans won 3-0, but it could have easily been way worse and approaching the 13-0 scoreline against Thailand if not for Endler’s play in goal.
Teams
Italy
The Italians are the biggest surprise of the tournament so far. They upset Australia 2-1 to open group play and then managed to top Group C on goal differential. The 1999 finalist, China, awaits in the Round of 16 and is all that’s standing in Italy’s way from reaching a quarterfinal for the first time since 1991.
United States
Yeah, they were in a weak group facing Thailand and Chile before facing a Sweden squad that made seven changes to its lineup. But the Americans did what they were supposed to do: dominate possession and score goals in convincing wins. The Sweden match was back and forth, but a clean sheet was still kept. Against Thailand and Chile, the United States outscored them 16-0 with a World Cup-record 13 goals coming against Thailand.
The health of Ertz and Morgan are concerns and so is the draw in the Americans’ bid bid to repeat as champions. But for now, they’ve been stellar and did what a favorite is supposed to do.
Netherlands
The Oranje are the reigning European champions, so they came into the WWC as a highly ranked team. However, they are only in their second Women’s World Cup. The Dutch defeated New Zealand and Cameroon before showing how dangerous they can be in this tournament in Thursday’s Group E finale with Canada. The Dutch scored twice and held a strong Canada side in check.
This story was originally published June 21, 2019 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Who are the stars of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup after the group stage?."
