Sunday, June 7
Norway vs. Thailand in Ottawa, 1 p.m. (Fox)
Germany vs. Ivory Coast in Ottawa, 4 p.m. (Fox, NBC Universo)
538 doesn’t see either the Ivory Coast or Thailand making the knockout round. Both teams will likely have terrible goal differences after playing the Europeans, meaning a draw in their head-to-head will doom both to early exists.
They’re two teams that wouldn’t have qualified if the tournament wasn’t expanded. Thailand likely wouldn’t have qualified out of Asia if North Korea hadn’t been banned, while Ivory Coast finished third in the African Women’s Championship. In 2011, only two African teams made the World Cup.