BIG IN JAPAN
It’s probably a stretch to call Japan the dark horses of this Women’s World Cup. For starters, they are not Belgium or Turkey, who are legally obliged to be mentioned in the Dark Horse Conversation, regardless of whether they have even qualified for the tournament (they have, on this occasion, not). Secondly, Japan – ranked 11th in the world – are way too good to be part of this particular debate. They won the ruddy thing in 2011 and were finalists in 2015, so describing them as some sort of underdog is a massive disservice.
