Breaking Down the Women's World Cup Semifinals

ENGLAND vs UNITED STATES (JULY 2)

England has outscored its World Cup opponents 11-1 including 6-0 in the knockout round. The English are making their second consecutive appearance in the semifinals and are looking to improve upon their third place finish in 2015. England and the U.S. have met in all four SheBelieves Cups with the U.S. winning 1-0 in 2016, England winning 1-0 in 2017, the U.S. winning 1-0 in 2018 and the teams drawing 2-2 in March of this year. Ellen White leads England with five goals.

The United States has never finished worse than third in the Women's World Cup and has reached four of seven World Cup Finals. After rolling through the Group Stage with 18 goals for and 0 goals against, the U.S. has managed a pair of 2-1 wins in the knockout round. Megan Rapinoe has scored all four of the U.S.'s goals in the knockout round, and is tied with Alex Morgan with a team-best five goals so far in the tournament.


NETHERLANDS vs SWEDEN (JULY 3)

The Netherlands have quietly won all five of their matches in this World Cup outscoring their opponents 10-3, and are making their first ever appearance in the World Cup semifinals. It's no fluke though as the Netherlands ended Germany's streak of 6-straight UEFA Women's Championships by winning the the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 Tournament and had wins over both Sweden (in the quarterfinals) and England (in the semifinals) on their way to the title. The Dutch have been led in this World Cup by 22 year old Vivianne Miedema's three goals.

Of the four teams remaining, Sweden is the only one that didn't win their group as they had the misfortune of needing to take on the U.S. in group play. Sweden has otherwise been perfect winning their four remaining matches by a score of 10-2. In dispatching Germany in the semifinals, Sweden was able to exact revenge on the team that eliminated them from the 2015 World Cup, and now they get a shot at the team that knocked them out of the 2017 UEFA Women's Championship. Eight different players have scored for Sweden so far in the World Cup.