Now that the USWNT has moved on from Group D, their road to a World Cup championship has gotten a little bit easier.
The United States road through the bracket includes Colombia (ranked 28th in the world) and China (16th), with the winner of Germany vs France awaiting in the semis.
Other than China, it seems as if the road for the US has gotten a lot easier, although, is anything going to be easy for the US? Defensively, the US has been solid, not so much on the offensive end.
Had the USWNT not finished in the No. 1 spot, they would have had a much tougher, almost impossible road. First, they may have had to face powerhouse Brazil, then Japan or the Netherlands. Brazil has yet to give up a goal so far in the tournament and they are 1-0-1 against the US this past year.
Let's not forget that Japan is the defending World Cup champion, and is tough in their own right.
And had the US finished third in group play, they would have had to faced No. 1 rank Germany, then maybe No.3 France, so to say the US dodged a few bullets by winning their group is an understatement.
The US will eventually have to face these teams down the line, at least with this next group of teams coming up, they have a little bit more time to figure things out offensively.
But Colombia has already produced the biggest upset of the tournament so far, beating France 2-0. Let's not forget that coming into the tournament, the US was ranked No. 2 in the world, so they are supposed to make it to this point and further.
They also came into the tournament on a roll beating the Germans in an exhibition before the World Cup began. So, no one should be surprised if the US makes it to the World Cup finals; what would be a surprise is if they didn't.
