Women's World Cup

England head coach Sarina Wiegman is in a unique position at the Women’s World Cup. She's the only woman leading a team that is still in contention for the title. That was the case even before the European champions advanced to the semifinals by beating Colombia 2-1. Women’s soccer is growing at pace. This World Cup has seen record attendance, rising talent from around the globe and showcased a closing of the gap between the sport's traditional elite and emerging nations. Yet the disparity in the coaching ranks has also been laid bare.

Australia has edged France on penalty kicks to reach the Women’s World Cup semifinals for the first time. Cortnee Vine took Australia’s 10th penalty from the spot and calmly converted to give the Matildas a 7-6 win in the shootout after the quarterfinal match finished 0-0 after regulation and extra time. The Australians missed two earlier chances to clinch a dramatic shootout but ultimately it didn’t matter as they ended a long curse for tournament hosts.

Salma Paralluelo has scored deep in extra time to give Spain a 2-1 win over Netherlands and send the sixth-ranked nation into the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup for the first time. The teenager struck in the 113th minute of an epic clash between European heavyweights whose men’s teams also have storied World Cup histories. The 19-year-old made her break down the left hand side, pivoted momentarily and from a difficult angle sent the ball into the back of the neck for an historic match-winner.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Japan scored its 14th goal of the Women’s World Cup and conceded its first Saturday, beating Norway 3-1 to reach the quarterfinals for the fourth time.

The United States is clearly not the dominant team that won the 2019 Women's World Cup. The Americans have advanced to the knockout stage at this edition, but just barely after a 0-0 draw with Portugal in their final group match. With just one win and a pair of draws, the United States fell to second in Group E behind the Netherlands and heads to Melbourne, Australia, in the round of 16. They've appeared out of sync in the group games in New Zealand, but still have at least one more match to come together.

The United States meets Netherlands on Wednesday in Wellington at the Women's World Cup. The game is a rematch of the World Cup final four years ago in France, which the Americans won 2-0 for the team's second straight title in soccer's biggest tournament. Thursday's match is the second for both teams in group play. Both come into the game with a Group A win in hand, so the results are important for positioning in the knockout stage.

 How’s this for a pair of stats? The first eight matches of the Women’s World Cup each included a penalty kick – and the attacking team converted just four times from the spot. Some of the attempts were turned away by goalkeeping heroics, others were clean misses and all four denials had some of the game’s biggest names on the short end. A mere 50% conversion rate, if it continued through the 2023 tournament, would be notably low.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Sweden produced a drab opening Women's World Cup performance on a gloomy night of mist and rain but managed to pull off a surprisingly difficult 2-1 victory to fend off plucky South Africa on Sunday.

England has beaten Haiti 1-0 on a retaken penalty from Georgia Stanway in a difficult Women’s World Cup opener for the European champions against a team on debut at the tournament. England dominated possession in the first half but had to wait until the 29th minute for Stanway to convert from the spot after her first attempt was well saved by a diving Kerly Theus. 

Sophia Smith scored twice for the United States in the opening half and the two-time defending champions kicked off the Women’s World Cup with a 3-0 victory over tournament first-timers Vietnam on Saturday. Lindsey Horan added a goal for the favored Americans, who have won four World Cups overall and are vying for an unprecedented three-peat at the tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Hannah Wilkinson scored to open the second half and New Zealand upset Norway 1-0 for its first-ever win at the Women’s World Cup just hours after a shooting in downtown Auckland that shocked the host nation. Also, Australia beat Ireland 1-0.

Overwhelming demand for tickets meant co-host Australia's opening match at the Women's World Cup had to be shifted to the tournament's biggest stadium and will be played in front of an expected record crowd of 82,500. Ireland is stepping into that cauldron to take on the Matildas at Sydney's Stadium Australia on Thursday. Ireland will be on debut at the global tournament. Ireland forward Marissa Sheva says "We feel like underdogs and we embrace it. I think it gives us a little bit of energy and we know the pressure is not on us, it's on them for this game."

Every player at the Women's World Cup will be paid at least $30,000 by FIFA and all 23 in the title-winning team will each get $270,000. The details confirmed Wednesday fulfils FIFA's promise to directly reward all 732 players taking part in the tournament that starts in July in Australia and New Zealand. More than half of FIFA's total prize fund of $110 million will be paid out to players. Players from the 16 teams exiting at the group stage will get $30,000 each.

The United States will be playing for an unprecedented three-peat at the Women's World Cup this summer. It won't be easy for the world's No. 1 team. Co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the quadrennial tournament for international soccer's most coveted trophy kicks off on July 20 and features an expanded field of 32 teams, up from 24.