There will be at least one Finalist at the Women’s World Cup who has never reached that stage before.

After a dramatic Round of 16 where Japan excelled, the USA went home and England scraped through via a penalty shoot out we now know the full line up of the Quarter Finals and the route that each team must navigate to lift the trophy on August 20th.

On one side of the draw England will play Colombia and the winners will come up against the victors from Australia against France.

Colombia have never made it to this stage before and are the lowest ranked side left in the tournament having beaten Jamaica yesterday.

They will face an England side that played well against China but have otherwise stuttered. They will also be missing Lauren James after her red Card in the win over Nigeria.

England have made it to five Quarter Finals in the past, getting through twice but never making it beyond the Semi Finals.

France and Australia have both been here three times, Australia without a win and France having progressed only once.

On the other side, the only team left who has won the World Cup is Japan, who impressed in their group stage and again against Norway at the weekend.

They are up against Scandinavian opposition again with Sweden standing in their way. The height differential between the teams will perhaps be the greatest ever at a major tournament but Japan’s speed and technical ability has them as our favourites to go all the way.

Sweden lost in their only Quarter Final appearance while Japan have won two of their three, making it to the Final on each occasion and being crowned World Champions in 2011.

The last Quarter final is an all European affair between Spain and the Netherlands. Spain have never reached this stage while the Netherlands have done once before, going all the way to the Final in France 2019 before losing out to the USA.

The four games will take place on Friday and Saturday of this week with Spain and the Netherlands at 0200 on Friday morning and Japan against Sweden at 0830, then Australia against France and England against Colombia at 0800 and 1130 on Saturday.

All four games will be shown live on RTÉ2 or the RTÉ Player.