England sealed a Group D victory with an easy 6-1 win over China on Tuesday morning.
It was the English women’s best performance of the tournament. England scored on all but one of its shots on target as Alessia Russo opened the scoring in the fourth minute before Lauren Hemp added a second in the 26th minute.
Lauren James scored on either side of halftime before Chloe Kelly and Rachel Daly added to the margin of victory.
China was overpowered and overmatched throughout this game as Wang Shuang’s penalty in the 57th minute averted a shutout loss. England had nearly a 75% possession rate.
England had won each of its first two World Cup games by a score of 1-0 and will play Nigeria early Monday morning in the Round of 16.
Denmark 2, Haiti 0
Denmark advanced as the No. 2 team from Group D with a 1-0 victory over Haiti.
Denmark scored just three minutes into the game but Simone Boye’s goal was ruled out after she was inches offside in the buildup. The Danes got their first goal of the game in the 21st minute from Penille Harder via the penalty spot after Dayana Pierre-Louis was called for a handball inside the box.
Denmark controlled the game as Haiti had to push to get a win and score multiple goals. The Danes appeared to go up 2-0 in the 83rd minute on Harder’s second goal of the game but the goal was ruled out for a foul as Haiti goalie Kerly Theus got kicked milliseconds after she cleared the ball away from outside her box.
The second goal finally came 10 minutes into added time as Sanne Troelsgaard coolly slotted home a shot at the far post.
Denmark will play Australia in the Round of 16 on Monday.
United States 0, Portugal 0
The U.S. played a drab 0-0 draw against Portugal on Tuesday to advance to the knockout rounds.
Don’t feel bad if you decided to sleep instead of watch this game in the early morning hours. The USWNT looked disjointed and was inches from being eliminated from the tournament in added time.
Portugal’s Ana Capeta hit the post in the 92nd minute after she got through the U.S. defense and beat goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. Had Capeta scored, the U.S. would have needed to get a goal in the final minutes to tie and advance.
The U.S. has scored just one goal over the last two matches despite tallying 35 shots. Its second-place finish in Group E means Sweden is the likely Round of 16 opponent on Sunday at 5 a.m. ET.
Netherlands 7, Vietnam 0
The Netherlands made things easy against Vietnam in a 7-0 win. The Dutch had four goals in the first 23 minutes as it entered the game needing to make up two goals in goal difference on the United States.
Goal differential ultimately didn’t matter thanks to the USWNT’s tie against Portugal as the U.S. ended up with five points to the Netherlands’ seven. The Netherlands’ win Tuesday morning is the biggest blowout of the tournament so far.
Lieke Martens scored first for the Dutch as the Netherlands entered halftime with a 5-0 lead and was able to coast in the second half.
Both Jill Roord and Esmee Brugts scored twice for the Netherlands, which has a very manageable draw through to the semifinals as Group E winners. The USWNT entered the Women’s World Cup as the favorite to win, but it’s easy to see how the Netherlands has a claim to that status through the group stage.
