We have reached the knockout stages of the Women’s World Cup, and it’s crunch time for a number of teams in a bid to make the last eight in France.
England face Cameroon, while two heavyweights meet in the shape of hosts France and Brazil, and Spain face an in-form United States.
Our football betting expert gives you the best bets ahead of the matches.
England v Cameroon
There are only four more matches between England Women and World Cup glory, the first of which comes against a Cameroon side who haven’t had the best tournament so far.
The African nation lost two out of their three Group E games, only just getting through to the knockouts as one of the best third-placed teams after a last-gasp winner versus New Zealand.
After losing to both Canada and Netherlands, I think a fair assessment to make is that England should get through this fixture relatively painlessly, and a 3-0 victory can be backed at 5/1.
The Lionesses are in fine form, after all, having topped Group D after a 2-1 victory against Scotland and 1-0 and 2-0 wins against Argentina and Japan respectively.
Phil Neville ensured that this was the first time an England side has taken all of their group game points at a World Cup.
Nikita Parris could return to the starting XI against Cameroon and England may well take this opportunity to make a real statement, especially given the fact that they may potentially meet an on-fire USA outfit should they reach the semi-final. As such, over 3.5 goals is available at 6/5.
France v Brazil
Despite being the host nation, France didn’t exactly get too lucky here as they take on Brazil in their round of 16 match and then quite possibly the United States in the quarter-final stage.
Brazil are 7/1 here but it should be noted that they have had considerably stronger teams in past tournaments who would not have thrown away a 2-0 lead to ultimately lose 3-2 to Australia, like they did this time around.
The South American side did taste victory twice though when keeping clean sheets in a 3-0 win over Jamaica and a 1-0 shut-out against Italy. I fancy forward Marta to bag the first goal, which is available at 9/1.
Spain v United States
USA have now qualified for this round of 16 stage of the competition in all eight Women’s World Cups so far.
Of the eight tournaments, they have walked away with an impressive three trophies and look in decent form to clinch their fourth.
‘Decent’ might be a little bit of an understatement. In fact, they have won eight consecutive matches in the competition and are just two more wins away from the all-time record.
They don’t face the easiest opposition in Spain, but I still think it’s unrealistic to expect them to have too much trouble progressing here.
You can back a 2-0 United States win at 11/2.
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