GERMANY, BRAZIL & CANADA ARE OUT. HERE'S WHY THIS IS THE MOST OPEN WOMEN'S WORLD CUP EVER

Gone are the days when the underdogs were in awe of the traditional powerhouses. Jamaica held France to a 0-0 draw in its opening game of the tournament and repeated that trick as it eliminated Brazil in the final match in Group F...

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Change is happening fast in women’s soccer. A leveling of the playing field is being highlighted at the Women’s World Cup, which saw two-time champion Germany crash out of the tournament. In the biggest upset of a World Cup that has been full of surprises, the second-ranked Germans, two-time World Cup winners, were eliminated in group stage for the first time in team history. Copa America champion Brazil and Olympic gold medalist Canada were also eliminated in the first round, while Morocco, South Africa and Jamaica all advanced to the knockout stage while making history along the way.

“If I’m candid, I really am surprised,” said Jill Ellis, who coached America to World Cup wins in 2015 and 2019. “I think when you suddenly see a Germany or a Brazil get knocked out of a World Cup at the group stage, I don’t think any of us could have predicted that.

“Am I excited by the development? Of course, for sure. But I think I was thinking that (there would be) one more iteration of the World Cup before we started to see even more parity that we’re starting to see right now.” Back-to-back defending champion America, the No. 1 team in the world, has looked vulnerable in its quest to win an unprecedented third consecutive title. The United States has won four of the first Women's World Cups and has never finished lower than third. But the Americans skirted into the knockout stage and look very vulnerable. So, too, does fifth-ranked France. The growing parity in women's soccer has made for a thrilling group stage of the World Cup, which concluded with Thursday’s wild finale as Morocco beat Colombia 1-0, while Germany was held to a 1-1 draw by South Korea.