July Madness: First Round, Part 1 of 3
Let's get this going, 16 matches to start!
Welcome to Round 1! To avoid the embeds being spoilers of the brackets, have a picture of one of the stadiums here in this set of matches:
We’re going to go in time-order (by UTC start time) for the matches. There are a lot of First Round matches, so we’ll break this up into 3 sets — the first of 16 matches, then a pair of 24s (since there’s no need for much of an intro there). We’ll have 2 sets of 16 for the second round, and do each following round in a single post.
Each pod site will have two matches each on July 2 and 3. The same pod’s matches will play on the same day, 3 hours apart, most often at 1700 and 2000 local, but not always. Within a day, we tried to place matches at times most useful for TV for the home countries, but this was not always plausible. Countries could not, however, play both of their matches at overlapping times.
Each match will have UTC time and local time displayed. All matches here are on July 2.
North Harbor Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand, 5:00 UTC (17:00 local)
Sydney Regional (W): #6 Switzerland vs. #11 Wales
WAL: Rowe 41’
Switzerland 0 - 1 Wales
North Harbor Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand, 8:00 UTC (20:00 local)
Sydney Regional (W): #3 Australia vs. #14 Ghana
AUS: Van Egmond 76’
Australia 1 - 0 Ghana
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi, India, 8:00 UTC (13:30 local)
Buenos Aires Regional (M): #5 Spain vs. #12 Slovakia
ESP: Rodri 48’
ESP: Moreno 63’
Spain 2 - 0 Slovakia
Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 9:00 UTC (17:00 local)
Rio de Janeiro Regional (W): #3 Korea DPR vs. #14 India
PRK: Ri 19’
PRK: Ri 58’
IND: Kathiresan 66’ (P)
PRK: Ri 76’
PRK: Kim K.Y. 89’
PRK: Choe 90+6’
Korea DPR 5 - 1 India
Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden, 10:00 UTC (12:00 local)
Johannesburg Regional (W): #6 Norway vs. #11 Chinese Taipei
NOR: Sonstevold 34’
NOR: Hegerberg 37’
NOR: Hansen 42’
NOR: Hegerberg 88’
Norway 4 - 0 Chinese Taipei
PGE Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland, 10:00 UTC (12:00 local)
Vancouver Regional (W): #6 Aotearoa New Zealand vs. #11 Uzbekistan
NZL: Wilkinson 8’
NZL: Collins 14’
NZL: Wilkinson 25’ (P)
Aotearoa New Zealand 3 - 0 Uzbekistan
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi, India, 11:00 UTC (16:30 local)
Buenos Aires Regional (M): #4 Japan vs. #13 Greece
JPN: Minamino 45+2’
Japan 1 - 0 Greece
Millenium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, 11:00 UTC (12:00 local)
Dakar Regional (M): #7 Ecuador vs. #10 Czechia
ECU: Torres 6’
CZE: Soucek 41’
ECU: Valencia 89’
Ecuador 2 - 1 Czechia
Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 12:00 UTC (20:00 local)
Rio de Janeiro Regional (W): #6 Portugal vs. #11 South Africa
RSA: Magaia 30’
POR: Nazareth 51’
POR: Rebelo 83’
Portugal 2 - 1 South Africa
Milliy Stadium, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 12:00 UTC (17:00 local)
Rio de Janeiro Regional (W): #4 Italy vs. #13 Thailand
ITA: Giacinti 41’
ITA: Giacinti 55’
ITA: Giacinti 74’
THA: Upachai 80’
Italy 3 - 1 Thailand
Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden, 13:00 UTC (12:00 local)
Johannesburg Regional (W): #3 Netherlands vs. #14 Iran
NED: Mertens 24’
NED: Miedema 46’
NED: Miedema 52’
NED: Miedema 76’
NED: Van Dongen 86’
Netherlands 5 - 0 Iran
PGE Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland, 13:00 UTC (15:00 local)
Vancouver Regional (W): #3 Sweden vs. #14 Slovakia
SVK: Zemberyova 12’
SWE: Rolfo 19’ (P)
SWE: Anvegard 42’
SWE: Sembrant 56’
Sweden 3 - 1 Slovakia
Millenium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, 14:00 UTC (15:00 local)
Dakar Regional (M): #2 Belgium vs. #15 Aotearoa New Zealand
BEL: Garrett 1’ (OG)
NZL: Payne 67’
NZL: Waine 74’
BEL: De Bruyne 90+2’
NZL: Waine 90+7’
Belgium 2 - 3 New Zealand
A MASSIVE UPSET IN THE FINAL MOMENT OF THE MATCH!
Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 13:00 UTC (17:00 local)
Tokyo Regional (M): #5 Iran vs. #12 Romania
ROU: Birligea 19’
IRN: Azmoun 60’
ROU: Puscas 75’
IRN: Taremi 88’
ROU: Puscas 102’
ROU: Alibec 116’
Iran 2 - 4 Romania (AET)
Kasarani Stadium, Nairobi, Kenya, 14:00 UTC (17:00 local)
Dakar Regional (M): #5 Switzerland vs. #12 Panama
SUI: Embolo 50’
SUI: Sefeorvic 77’
SUI: Okafor 84’ (P)
SUI: Steffen 85’
Switzerland 4 - 0 Panama
Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul, Türkiye, 14:00 UTC (17:00 local)
Dakar Regional (M): #6 Denmark vs. #11 Cameroon
CMR: Choupo-Moting 70’
Denmark 0 - 1 Cameroon
The brackets at this point:
We’ll see you for Part 2 soon!