Women's World Cup final eight is wide open, as sport sees a changing of the guard

SYDNEY : Few could have predicted the eight teams still standing when the Women's World Cup kicked off three weeks - and more surprisingly, the teams who are gone.

In the most wide open World Cup in history, Colombia and France were the last two teams to clinch quarter-final berths Tuesday evening, joining Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Australia and England to close the curtain on a breathtaking first two rounds full of delicious twists and turns.

When the tournament was expanded to 32 teams, there was apprehension around whether lower-ranked sides could compete at this level. But the exact opposite happened. Concerns about blowouts were blown out of the water in a changing of the guard.

Japan are the only previous World Cup champions remaining, having climbed the winners' podium in 2011.

Gone are four-times champions United States, who were gunning to become the first team to win three in a row, but were sent spinning out of the tournament before the semi-finals for the first time in history.

Also gone: Two-time champions Germany, 1995 winners Norway, reigning Olympic champions Canada, and Brazil, who had not been ousted in the group stage since 1995.

"Nothing is easy in this tournament," coach Sarina Wiegman said after England survived a last-16 scare from Nigeria before winning in a shootout.

"That's very exciting because we see the women's game has improved so much. You saw in the group stage, many games were equal, and it's not that the expected teams have won all the time."

In an end of an era, the elimination of the U.S., Canada and Brazil marked inauspicious World Cup finales for some of the game's biggest trailblazers in Megan Rapinoe, Christine Sinclair and Marta.

Others such as Colombia's dazzling teenager