The group stages are in the rearview mirror and Vera Pauw's Republic of Ireland squad have already been welcomed home but for the 16 teams left standing in Australia and New Zealand, it's time for the unforgiving gauntlet of the knockout rounds and it all kicks off on Saturday.
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Until they ran into Japan in their final group game, Spain's progression had been serene despite the months of turmoil between last summer's European Championships and the start of the World Cup.
Zambia were swept aside 5-0 after the Spanish had opened up with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Costa Rica.
But with qualification to the last-16 already assured, a 4-0 defeat to an impressive Japanese side dented their momentum and they now face a tricky clash against a Switzerland side that topped a Group A featuring Norway and co-hosts New Zealand.
The Swiss have been defensively durable, not conceding a single goal, although they have not been prolific with their only goals coming in the 2-0 win over the Philippines, prior to pragmatic goalless draws against Norway and New Zealand.
Armed with the firepower of striker Jennifer Hermoso, youngster Salma Paralluelo and the creativity and control of two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmatí behind them, Spain will be favourites to be the first side to book a quarter-final spot.
But they will be rightly wary of Switzerland's ability to turn the Eden Park match into cagey contest, with manager Jorge Vilda warning: "Switzerland have something very valuable that in three games no one scored a goal against them. That means that the defence is very solid."
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It's been a tournament of shocks and Norway could have found themselves among the traditional big hitters to suffer ignominous exits like Brazil and Germany.
However, a 6-0 win over the Philippines in their final group game was enough to allow Hege Riise's side to squeeze out of Group A alongside Switzerland.
Any sense of relief ends there though as the immediate challenge is a battle against arguably the most impressive team at these finals so far.
Few were mentioning 2011 World Cup winners Japan pre-tournament - the notable exception being former Ireland manager Sue Ronan who tipped them for great things on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast last month - but they made light work of Zambia and Costa Rica 5-0 and 2-0 respectively, before the piece de resistance that was the 4-0 dismantling of Spain last time out.
It sets up a mouthwatering clash of two World Cup winning nations at this early juncture of the knockout stages and Riise is no stranger to what Japan have to offer having played club football there in the mid-90s.
"When I played in Japan, I enjoyed every minute of it. Fantastic country, great players and the national team back then was not as good as they are now," she said.
"Now they have developed quite fast and become a strong team."
Former Ballon d'Or winner Ada Hegerberg missed Norway's last two group matches due to a groin injury but could potentially feature against Japan according to Riise, although fellow forward Roman Haug did deputise to good effect with a hat-trick versus the Philippines.
They will certainly need their key players ready to go given the technical and tactical talents of Futoshi Ikeda's Japan who have seen Hinata Miyazawa score a brace each against Spain and Zambia.
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