It was a day full of excitement as the FIPFA World Cup rolled on! The group stage wrapped up to lead us to the quarterfinals. We started with ten teams split into two pools which is now narrowed to eight. Leading into today Team USA was leading Pool A with a 3-0 record while France and England were tied up at 2-0 in Pool B. 

The excitement of most of the day in Pool A came not from the high scoring matches of USA, but from the teams battling for the last few spots to move on. Denmark, Argentina, and Uruguay all entered the day with a tie and either one or two losses. First, Uruguay took on Denmark and defeated them 3-1 to secure at least a place in the next round. Then, Denmark attempted to rebound against Argentina but could only secure a 1-1 tie. This left Denmark in last place and out of contention, Argentina in fourth, and Japan and Uruguay left to battle it out in the final match for second! 

This turned into one of the most high energy games of the day with fans on both cheering loud (and screaming at the refs for 2 on 1s!!) Japan ended up on top 2-1 with a couple solid goals that secured a more favorable quarterfinal matchup. 
In Pool B, France barely edged out England 2-1 to secure the top seed. They also beat Australia handily 4-0 to sweep the group. England bounced back with a 7-0 defeat of Canada. Australia shut down Ireland to secure a third place finish while it would come down to the last match to decide who comes in fourth and who gets knocked out. 

Ireland’s defense came through for them to sneak by Team Canada. Ireland’s offense was steady scoring four goals against Canada’s zero sending them to a quarterfinal matchup with USA!