Japan will play the Netherlands in the Women's World Cup 2015 Round of 16 on Tuesday night in the final game from this first knock out round in the competition. Japan will be favorites as the reigning World Cup champs, but it would be unwise to write off Holland, as they will be trying to cause a major upset to get through to the quarter finals. The game has a scheduled start time of 10 p.m. ET and takes place from BC Place Stadium in Canada. The game can be watched on TV on the Fox Sports 1 network, but can be watched online through live stream via the link below.
The Netherlands have played well through the group stages to get to the Round of 16, and even though their record was just one win, one draw and one loss from their three games, they proved more than a handful for each team they came up against.
They opened their World Cup with the perfect start, defeating New Zealand 1-0 back on June 6. However, despite fighting hard against China they eventually lost their second game 0-1, before closing out their group stages with a 1-1 draw against hosts Canada.
Despite finishing third in their group, the Netherlands will prove a tough challenge for Japan today. They have only conceded two goals from their three games and will once again try to stifle China's attack today.
However, the one area that has proven weak for the Netherlands is their own attack, and they also have scored just two goals so far in the competition. They must find a way to get more penetration up front if they are to take down the World Cup champs in today's Round of 16 game.
Japan meanwhile have had a perfect start to their World Cup title defense with three wins from their three group games to top their group.
They kicked off their World Cup with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Switzerland, and followed that up with an even more impressive 2-1 win against a talented Cameroon side. Rounding off their perfect three wins from three, they ended their group stages with a 1-0 win over Ecuador.
Despite their three wins, Japan will know that there are still many areas they will want to improve upon, and now that the knock out stages have begun they will want to make big improvements with each game that passes.
They will have seen how teams like Germany and France have let loose with their attacking football, and they will know that they also will have to heat things up going forward in their coming games as they get more difficult.
Today's big Women's World Cup 2015 Round of 16 game between Japan and the Netherlands has a scheduled start time of 10 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the Fox Sports 1 network or online through live stream by clicking here.
