KEY POINTS:
The odds will be against England when they run on to Waikato Stadium for their Fifa Under-17 Women's World Cup quarter-final against Japan tomorrow.
And not only because they are against the only team who did not drop a point in qualifying.
In their three previous appearances at
Fifa women's tournaments, stretching back to 1995, England also advanced beyond the group phase only to be eliminated in the quarter-finals. This will be no easier.
On the other hand, the United States, who qualified for the post-section phase with a 1-1 draw against France, have, in all previous outings at Fifa women's tournaments (World Cup, Olympics and under-20), always won through to the semifinals.
The statistics from pool play show England, heading into the business end of the tournament, fared poorly on a number of counts.
In the possession stakes, England had only 48 per cent of the ball in their three matches. Surprisingly, the only two teams below them, United States (47 per cent) and Denmark (46 per cent) are also through to the last eight which suggests much of so-called possession is in the defensive, rather than attacking, part of the pitch.
Of their 30 shots, England had just 16 on target which rated 10th among the 16 teams. Only four found the net. Japan had 39 shots of which 29 were on target and 17 scored.
Germany did well, with 29 of their 43 attempts on target and nine in the net which was second-best and a warning to the Canadians who meet them at Westpac Stadium this afternoon.
New Zealand were third in scoring attempts with 45 (22 on target). They trailed only Nigeria 51 (19) and Ghana 51 (17), yet none of that trio won through to the quarter-finals.
Further down the table, England with 30 shots (16 on target) and the United States 25 (16) came in 10th equal.
The German goalkeeper was largely unemployed, called on to make just three saves. Korea DPR, who play Denmark in the first of today's quarter-finals in Wellington, made seven saves while their South Korean neighbours, against the United States in the last quarter-final tomorrow, came in fourth with nine saves.
The Japanese goalkeeper made 11 saves, for seventh best, while England ranked 13th after their custodian was called on 15 times. In scoring 17 goals, the Japanese equalled the record set by Norway in the group phase at the 1995 Women's World Cup. With her hat-trick (in just eight minutes from the 26th minute) against France, Japan's Chinatsu Kira equalled the all-time Fifa women's record set by another Japanese player Mio Otani who scored three in eight minutes (from the 72nd minute) against Argentina in 2003.
New Zealand's Rosie White scored the only other hat-trick, in the 3-1 win over Colombia. They were the only goals scored by Kira and White.
At the other end of the scale, the two goals scored by Canada in reaching the last eight equals the previous low mark set by Chinese Taipei (1991 World Cup), Brazil (2006 under-20) and Germany (2008 Beijing Olympics).
With their 5-0 win over Costa Rica, the Germans continued their record as the only team to have won at least one match by five goals at every Fifa women's competitions.
Japan and Germany, who can only meet in the final, are joint favourites with the TAB at $3.25. The US are next at $5 while Denmark and Canada who won through from group A are at $25.