The focus on Day 11 turns to misfiring Norway as they try to rescue their World Cup campaign as they face the Philippines in Group A.
At the same time, group leaders Switzerland come up against co-hosts New Zealand, who know that defeat will see them exit the competition.
The second round of matches are also set to take place in Group H. Germany powered to a 6-0 win against Morocco in their first outing and they'll be hoping for another win over Colombia.
Their opponents started with a 2-0 win over South Korea, who face Morocco.
World number 72 Morocco, the first Arab team to play at the tournament, were hopelessly outgunned by Germany in game one and blew out the score with two own goals in the second half.
South Korea's World Cup also started in the wrong fashion after a 2-0 loss to Colombia, but they did make some history as Casey Phair became the youngest ever World Cup player at 16 years and 26 days of age.
It was former Republic of Ireland boss Colin Bell who gave Phair her debut. Bell managed the Girls in Green up until 2019, when he left to take up a position with Huddersfield Town. He was succeeded by Vera Pauw.
If there is a winner here, they will put themselves right in the mix for qualification with South Korea to face Germany in their final fixture and Morocco will come up against Colombia.
Co-hosts New Zealand are 90 minutes away from a historic first - no matter the result when they take on Switzerland in their final group game on Sunday.
Since the first edition in 1991, the hosts have always qualified for the knockout stages and New Zealand will advance if they win. Qualification will also mark the first time in six attempts they have reached the knockouts.
But with three points separating table toppers Switzerland and bottom side Norway, all four teams have a shot at qualifying for the last 16.
Tie-breaking criteria may come into play if New Zealand draw, depending on Norway's result against the Philippines, while a loss will definitely see the Football Ferns eliminated.
With Dunedin boasting a big student population, the roofed stadium is famous for rowdy crowds and a party section of the terraces called 'The Zoo', where fans often dress up in costume.
"I think the way the stadium is set up it's going to be loud. It's going to echo," New Zealand goalkeeper Victoria Esson told reporters on Saturday.
"I can't wait to see how (the fans) get on our side and help us get over the line tomorrow."
Having upset Norway 1-0 in their opener for their first ever World Cup victory, New Zealand fell back to earth with a 1-0 defeat to the Philippines in Wellington.
The setback has done little to dent the co-hosts' spirits, though, with coach Jitka Klimkova raving about her players' sharpness at training.
Klimkova said they had worked hard on execution in front of goal after being thwarted by the Philippines.
"We reviewed (the Philippines game) ...and we saw a lot of good football during that game.
"We lacked a little bit of composure in the final third but how many times we entered the final third, that was one of our records in our play.
"Today's session and the last game that we played was one of our best football (sessions) I've seen."
Norway striker Ada Hegerberg will not play in their must-win group game against the Philippines after failing to recover from a groin injury in time, coach Hege Riise said on Saturday.
Hegerberg withdrew prior to kick-off in the second game after tweaking her groin in the warm-ups. The 2018 Ballon d'Or winner headed quickly down the tunnel to the locker room before Norway drew 0-0 with Switzerland.
Norway are bottom of Group A with one point and must win to have any chance of qualifying for the last 16, but their fate is not entirely in their hands with the top two sides Switzerland (four points) and New Zealand (three points) playing each other.
"She is not ready for this game, it came too early after her injury," Riise told reporters. "She is preparing for the next game.
"The medical team has worked to see if it would be possible (for her to play). Today it became clear that it is not.
"The rest of us have prepared as well as we can for what we have to do and the group has handled it very well."
Hegerberg said in a statement there was "too little time" to make the line-up for the game against the Philippines.
"But I have faith in this team tomorrow and I will continue to work to be ready for a possible last-16 game," she added.
Norway's World Cup campaign has not been short of drama, especially after winger Caroline Graham Hansen apologised for an outburst directed at the coach after being dropped to the bench for the draw against Switzerland.
Hansen had mentioned she had been removed from the leadership group by Riise last year.
When Riise was asked if Hansen's self-imposed break from the national team in August was to do with that decision, she refused to be drawn into the matter.
"Well, there's Caroline herself who wrote a post. So anything else on my part would be mere speculation," Riise said.
"She posted her message (in August) and she said that she needed some rest."
Germany and Colombia are top of Group H with three points each ahead of their clash on Sunday and the European side's quest for a third title was dealt another blow when they lost a third defender to injury.
Full-back Felicitas Rauch suffered a knee injury in training to join Giulia Gwinn and Carolin Simon on the sidelines but coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg believes others will step up.
"We know what type of back-up options we have, we take some strength from that. We want to basically be in that mindset where it doesn't matter who's standing there on the actual pitch," she said.
Colombia had their own scare when teenaged striker Linda Caicedo collapsed in training but coach Nelson Abadia said the 18-year-old, who became the youngest player to score in the tournament, is fine.
"She was tired. She was a bit stressed as well, because she was playing in her first World Cup," Abadia said.
"It was just an episode, it's finished, it's over. We're quite happy about this, no problem."
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