Colombia clinched a matchup with England in the quarterfinals, thanks to a second-half goal by Catalina Usme.
The Colombian captain scored in the 51st minute to give her side a 1-0 win over an underdog Jamaica team that had been one of the best stories of the Women’s World Cup.
Jamaica pushed forward for the final 40 minutes after Usme’s goal but wasn’t able to find an equalizer. The Jamaicans’ best chance came just a few minutes after Usme scored when Jody Brown hit the post with a header off a corner kick.
Drew Spence also came close in the final 10 minutes.
Colombia’s matchup with England will be one of the more fascinating quarterfinal games. The English women are the World Cup favorites and will not have Lauren James after her red card against Nigeria. Colombia has won three of its four games at the World Cup and has been one of the best defensive teams at the tournament. The Colombians have allowed just one goal over their four games.
Jamaica’s tournament is over after they scored just one goal over four games but advanced to the knockout rounds on the heels of a stingy defense. A 1-0 win and two 0-0 ties in the group stage were good enough to get the Jamaicans into the Round of 16 before allowing their first goal of the tournament to Usme.
France 4, Morocco 0
France scored three first-half goals in an eight-minute span during an easy 4-0 win over Morocco.
France’s Kadidiatou Diani opened the scoring in the 15th minute as France got in behind Morocco’s back line.
Five minutes later, Kenza Dali got on the scoresheet off the post.
Eugenie Le Sommer then scored the first of her two goals in the 23rd minute. She added her second in the 70th minute as France was simply seeing out the game.
The defensive performance by the French was much better than in the final group stage game. Coach Herve Renard was not thrilled with the team’s late defensive effort in an easy 6-3 win over Panama to end the group stage. While Panama never challenged France in that game, France was up 5-1 before allowing two goals in the final half hour.
France will play co-host Australia in the quarterfinals as the final eight teams in the tournament are set. The first quarterfinal is Thursday night in the U.S. as Spain plays the Netherlands. Japan and Sweden will meet in a huge quarterfinal game early Friday morning.
