A look at the teams in the quarters at the Women’s World Cup

EDMONTON, Alberta — The quarter-finals at the Women’s World Cup are set. Here is a look at the upcoming matches, and how the teams have fared so far in Canada:

US vs China: This is the first World Cup meeting between the two teams since the 1999 final, which the United States famously won on penalty kicks at the Rose Bowl.

The US women have scored just six goals during the tournament so far, but the defence has been solid. The team has gone 333 minutes without conceding a goal.

The second-ranked Americans finished atop Group D, the so-called Group of Death, defeating Australia and Nigeria and playing to a scoreless draw with Sweden. On Monday, the US defeated No. 28 Colombia to open the round of 16.

The Americans will be without midfielders Lauren Holiday and Megan Rapinoe for the quarter-finals because of yellow card accumulation.

“No matter who they put in, I know they’re going to step up. Whoever it is has to, because we’re in the quarter-finals. This is the World Cup. Obviously you win or you go home, and China’s not a team to take lightly,” said US forward Abby Wambach.

China, ranked No. 16, has also displayed a stout defence during the tournament so far. The Chinese went 1-1-1 in Group A, finishing second to host Canada, scoring three goals and allowing three.

China advanced to the quarter-finals with a 1-0 victory over Cameroon.

The match is scheduled for Friday night at Ottawa’s Lansdowne Stadium.

Germany vs France: This is widely considered the best match of the quarter-finals, with the top-ranked Germans facing the third-ranked French.

France got stunned in the group stage by falling 2-0 to Colombia, but nonetheless finished atop Group F before defeating No. 8 South Korea 3-0 in the Round of 16.

“We’re happy to be in the quarter-finals,” French coach Philippe Bergeroo said. “The Germans are the best team in the world according to the FIFA World Ranking, and so we’ll give them all the respect they deserve.”

Germany, under respected coach Silvia Neid, leads the field at the World Cup with 19 goals in the tournament, compared with just two allowed. Anja Mittag and Celia Sasic have five goals apiece.

Germany finished atop Group B before defeating No. 5 Sweden 4-1 in its opening knockout-round match.

By virtue of their results at the World Cup so far, both France and Germany have secured a spot in the 2012 Olympics. Germany didn’t make the 2012 London games and France fell to Canada in the bronze-medal match.

The game between the two teams is set for Friday in Montreal.

Canada vs England: It’s all going according to plan for host Canada. The team is through to the quarter-finals and gets England in front of what is sure to be an amped-up home-country crowd.

“Coming back into BC Place will mean we’ll get our home advantage, the 12th man will really kick in at this point and give us hopefully that sort of energy they did toward the end of the game to lift our team,” Canada coach John Herdman said.

Canada, ranked No. 8, turned heads by winning the bronze medal at the London Olympics. The team’s next step is to finish strong at its own World Cup.

While they haven’t had a lot of goals — just four through four games — the Canadians finished atop Group A before defeating Switzerland 1-0 to open the knockout round. Josee Belanger scored the lone goal.

England, ranked No. 6 by FIFA, scored it’s first-ever knockout-stage victory at the World Cup with a 2-1 victory over Norway.

Norway took a 1-0 lead, but Steph Houghton and defender Lucy Bronze answered with goals for the Three Lionesses. The victory keeps England in contention for an Olympic bid next year in Brazil.

The two teams have met just once in the World Cup, a 3-2 England victory 20 years ago.

The match is set for Saturday in Vancouver.

Australia vs Japan: Tenth-ranked Australia pulled off the upset of the elimination stage so far with a 1-0 victory over Brazil and star Marta.

Kyah Simon came off the bench to score the lone goal in the victory, the Matilda’s first in the knockout stage of a World Cup.

“Obviously beating a team like Brazil gives you a massive amount of belief and it feels good to reach this stage of the tournament but we want to go further,” forward Samantha Kerr said.

Australia finished second in Group D, the so-called Group of Death, wrapping up with a 1-all draw with No. 5 Sweden.

Simon leads the team with three goals, while captain Lisa De Vanna has two.

They’ll face another tough opponent in defending champion Japan, which defeated the United States on penalty kicks four years ago in Germany for the team’s first World Cup title.

Japan has won all of its matches in Canada, the only team left in the field with a perfect winning record. The Japanese have conceded only two goals. One of those came Tuesday night when Japan defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in the round of 16.

The match is scheduled for Saturday at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.