Hosts Australia and England secured their places in the World Cup quarter-finals with wins on Monday and the round of 16 finishes on Tuesday as Colombia, Jamaica, France and Morocco all seek to join them.
Australia claimed a huge win and were buoyed by the return of Talismanic striker Sam Kerr in their 2-0 victory over Denmark.
Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso scored the goals either side of halftime before Kerr, who has been absent with a calf injury, came on as a 78th-minute substitute to a huge roar from the crowd of 75,784.
England, meanwhile, were pushed all the way by Nigeria in their clash with the Lionesses coming out on top in a penalty shootout, after a 0-0 draw.
England's victory came at a cost however, however, after Lauren James was shown a straight red card for a petulant stamp, following a VAR review late in the second half that could see her banned for the remainder of this tournament.
First up on Tuesday morning Colombia, who upset Germany 2-1 and topped Group H to reach the last 16 for a second time, play Jamaica in Melbourne, with the winners facing England after they beat Nigeria on penalties.
Jamaica have been the surprise package of the tournament, keeping clean sheets against France, Panama and Brazil to reach the knockout phase for the first time, in their second World Cup.
They will have their work cut out at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium defending against a Colombian attack boasting one of the game's most exciting forwards in 18-year-old Linda Caicedo.
In the leadup to the tournament, the Jamaicans complained of money troubles and launched a crowdfunding campaign to help cover costs.
Four years after crashing out of the 2019 World Cup in France with three heavy defeats, they came to Australia with low expectations and declined to set any goals.
Coach Lorne Donaldson said that had not changed and they were still only focused on the match ahead of them.
However, he has charged his team with scoring against Colombia, after they managed only one goal in the group phase, a header by captain Allyson Swaby from a set-piece against Panama.
"I don't think it's a major concern to us," said Donaldson of the lack of goals. "I mean, we played some good teams, France and Brazil - two of the top teams in the world.
"To get through the group you have to do what you have to do. We have to try to score a goal to win this game because somebody will be knocked out. So we will put our best foot forward and hopefully, we can get something going on here with goals."
Colombia meanwhile will again be looking to the flair of teenager Caicedo and will welcome another wunderkind to the grand stage should Ana Maria Guzman be called into action.
Guzman, a few months Caicedo's junior, will slot into Colombia's defence in place of fullback Manuela Vanegas, who is suspended after picking up a second yellow card in the 1-0 defeat to Morocco, their last group match.
With Caicedo up forward, Guzman will give Colombia a second teenage threat, the pair set to combine in a third World Cup in 12 months after playing in the under-17 and U20 tournaments last year.
Caicedo scored in both the 2-0 defeat of South Korea and the 2-1 upset of heavyweights Germany in the group stage but no Colombian player found the back of the net against Morocco.
Head coach Nelson Abadia admitted that Colombia's finishing against Morocco was below par and his players had lacked desperation late in what was effectively a dead rubber for the South Americans.
"But you know every game is different. We will face tomorrow's game with intelligence and with good management," he added.
France are looking to halt debutants Morocco's fairytale run at the Women's World Cup when the teams meet in Adelaide at midday.
There are 67 places separating fifth-ranked France from Morocco but coach Herve Renard warned his team not to take their opponents lightly after several shocks, with holders USA joining former champions Norway and Germany in crashing out.
Renard, who previously coached Morocco's men's team, will be up against fellow Frenchman Reynald Pedros, a former France international who has been in charge of Morocco since 2020.
"There will be just one French coach left in the quarter-finals," Renard said. "I hope it will be me."
"I have amazing memories from when I was in Morocco. I have amazing friends. But now we need to focus on football. Even when we have a friendly match, you still need to win the game so we are here to qualify (for the quarter-finals)."
Renard has question marks in his squad in captain Wendie Renard, who rested against Panama with a minor calf injury, and Maelle Lakrar, who suffered an injury when she slipped, Renard said.
"We have to let them decide how they feel," said the coach. "We had a good result facing Panama and some had more time to be in the game and to be on the field, others had time to rest, but overall everyone is ready for this important game."
Morocco, who were expected to make an early exit, were one of several surprise packages who qualified for the knockouts, bouncing back from a 6-0 hammering by Germany to beat South Korea and Colombia 1-0 and finish runners-up in Group H.
Pedros said he will have no qualms about eliminating France as Morocco, the first Arab nation at the tournament, look to make more history. The winners will face co-hosts Australia who knocked out Denmark to reach the last eight.
"I am French but my heart is with Morocco," Pedros said. "I will do everything for us to qualify for the quarter-finals."
Pedros said after the Colombia game that he had the advantage of knowing the France team "perfectly". Beating France, ranked fifth in the world, would be a remarkable achievement for 72nd-ranked Morocco.
"This round of 16 is against an amazing opponent," Pedros said. "We have to go up a notch with the game that we have done against Colombia, which was already a very high level for us.
"We have to go beyond what we can do and what we can expect, because we would like to qualify for the quarter-finals.
"Of course, if we had been eliminated with six points, it would still have been fantastic for us. But we went further. Football is incredible, and you can never know what's going to happen."
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