Group B Showdown for US Women

The U.S. Women’s National team takes on Nigeria tomorrow in Women’s World Cup Group B action (8:00am EST) hoping that a win is enough to put them into a quarter-final match against England. Perhaps more important, is the hope of avoiding Germany, which is the teams that Group B’s second-place team will meet in the next round.

With four points off two of the best teams in the tournament in its first two matches, the US is favorite to win the group, and thus the easier passage to the semifinals. The Nigerians should not offer too much opposition, but the US will want to put on a convincing show, and tally a significant number of goals.

If they do, they will accomplish two important feats. First, they will gain some much-needed confidence as they head into the single-elimination phase of the tournament. The US has not played well to this point and a haul of several goals will do wonders for a team that, but for Aby Wambach’s three goals, have not yet started to fire on all cylinders.

Secondly, a large number of goals against a weak Nigerian team will go a long way to sealing the US’s place at the top of the group. That is because goal difference is the first of the tie-breakers if the North Koreans and the US finish level on points.

At the moment, the two teams are tied on all tie-breakers - points, goal difference and goals scored. Were the group to end that way, the US would advance on the basis of Fair Play points (the US has one yellow card caution to North Korea’s two).

The big difference between the two records, though, is that the US has already played its toughest two games, while the Koreans have yet to play Sweden, which still has a realistic chance of its own of making the quarter finals.

If the US can tally three or more goals against Nigeria, they can likely book their passage to a quarter-final match-up against an England team, which, in spite of a 6-1 drubbing of Argentina, has to be a better bet than the Germans.

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Women's World Cup Group Stage