Women’s World Cup Day 2: Germany-China, Spain-South Africa, Norway-Nigeria

Good morning, Carty Freebirds! France opened the Women’s World Cup by whalloping South Korea 4-0 at the Parc des Princes, but there’s a whole lot of football yet to come from France.

Daily reading

• From Kim McCauley: Hello World Cup, France is here to mess you up.
• Also from Kim: a great story on that time when Marta destroyed the USWNT
• From Andi Thomas: Whatever you do, don’t screw up your first World Cup game.
• Here’s your preview of Group B.

What to Watch For

The early game might just be the best one as a World Cup winner (Germany) and a runner-up (China) collide in the group stages. Germany in particular look like a team that should go deep into this tournament — watch out for Dzsenifer Marozsán, who is the “Modric” of this Germany squad.

Group B is loaded, though, as Spain is another dark horse in this tournament, though they’ll have to play well to get by World Cup first timers South Africa and their midfield maestra Linda Motlhalo.

Norway is without the tournament’s best player Ada Hegerberg, who is sitting out the World Cup in protest of the Norwegian football federation’s treatment of women footballers. That hurts them a lot, and they’re going up against a Nigeria team that has something to prove in this tournament.

Match Schedule & How to Watch (Saturday, June 8, 2019)

Germany vs. China (Group B)
9:00 a.m. ET, 2:00 p.m. UK, 3:00 p.m. Paris
Stade de la Route de Lorient (Rennes)
TV: Fox Sports 1 (USA); Telemundo (USA - Spanish); BBC One (UK)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go (cable authentication), Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (Spanish), fuboTV (free trial) *

Spain vs. South Africa (Group B)
12:00 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. UK, 6 p.m. Paris
Stade Océane (Le Havre)
TV: FOX (USA); Telemundo (USA - Spanish); BBC Sport Live
Streaming: Fox Sports Go (cable authentication), Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (Spanish), fuboTV (free trial) *

Norway vs. Nigeria (Group A)
3:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. UK, 9:00 p.m. Paris
Stade Auguste-Delaune II (Reims)
TV: FOX (USA); Telemundo (USA - Spanish); BBC Sport Live
Streaming: Fox Sports Go (cable authentication), Telemundo Deportes En Vivo (Spanish), fuboTV (free trial) *

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