The first day of play-offs saw double women’s World Cup champions Germany sailing through to the quarterfinals with a 4-1 victory over Sweden. China also joined Germany in the last eight after they eased off Cameroon 1-0. The Germans are being considered as favorites and they justified that tag in the match against Sweden. The 4-1 score-line, however, is deceptive because Sweden didn’t collapse. Instead they gave Germany a hard time. If Germany won in the end, their victory was attributable to a focused and disciplined performance. In the other match, China struck an early goal,