Here are the teams who qualified for the Round of 16 (ranked in order for each group):
Group A
France
Norway
Nigeria |
Group B
Germany
Spain
China |
Group C
Italy
Australia
Brazil |
Group D
England
Japan |
Group E
Netherlands
Canada
Cameroon |
Group F
USA
Sweden |
It should be pointed out that in Group C, all three of those teams finished at 6 points because ITA beat AUS, AUS beat BRA, and BRA beat ITA (they all beat Jamaica, mon). The ranking was based on goal differential which put ITA at #1. AUS and BRA, however, were still tied and so total goals scored was used as the tie breaker. But that's a pretty tight group. The question is how well each will play their next opponent. I think Italy will have the best chance of making it to the quarterfinals (of those three); Brazil, the worst.
Kickoff times for the Round of 16 (all times Eastern Daylight Time; GMT: add 5):
Saturday
Germany v Nigeria - 22 Jun - 11:30
Norway v Australia - 22 Jun - 15:00
Sunday
England v Cameroon - 23 Jun - 11:30
France v Brazil - 23 Jun - 15:00
Monday
Spain v USA - 24 Jun - 12:00
Sweden v Canada - 24 Jun - 15:00
Tuesday
Italy v China - 25 Jun - 12:00
Netherlands v Japan - 25 Jun - 15:00
Germany, England, & the US should get through to the quarterfinals and their games probably won't be that close. I don't know how well the Netherlands will handle Japan's defense but I expect NED to win. Plus, they have a huge height advantage.
The rest of the matches, tho, should be really good. And I suspect the three in bold are gonna be battles.
Here's the bracket, so far:
Attachment 13166
As you can see, the toughest part of this bracket is assuming the US advances they'll be playing the winner of FRA/BRA. Yowza.