Fan’s take: Japan leads Group B going into final group match of 2011 World Cup

After two matches have been played by the teams in Group B of the 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany, Japan is alone at the top.

Japan has two wins and a goal differential of five. England is in second place with a win and a draw and a goal differential of one. Mexico is still alive with a draw and a loss, but its goal differential of negative-4 is really going to make things difficult. New Zealand has been eliminated after a pair of 2-1 defeats.

No matter what happens when Japan plays its third group stage match July 5 against England, the team has already qualified for the quarterfinal round. Japan's last trip to the quarterfinals came in 1995. The Japanese were defeated 4-0 by the United States. England will make it to the quarterfinal if it gets at least a draw in the Japan match. If England loses, it will need a Mexico loss, or a Mexico win which does not erase the goal differential between Mexico and England (which would be a combined goal margin of less than five between an England loss and a Mexico victory).

New Zealand has played much better in this World Cup than its two previous attempts where it lost a total of six matches and was outscored 20-1. New Zealand, especially forward Amber Hearn, was overconfident coming into the World Cup. Hearn provided England with some blackboard material before the tournament started by saying, "I don't think the English team has what it takes to keep up with the Asian sides."

On July 1, England ended New Zealand's World Cup with a 2-1 comeback win. Hearn also predicted that it would be Japan and New Zealand making it to the quarterfinal round out of Group B. Now, she'll have to face the Mexican team that stomped New Zealand 5-0 in the Cyprus Cup earlier this year.

Japan captain Homare Sawa ran away with the goal-scoring lead in this group when she scored a hat trick against Mexico on July 1 (only the 14th hat trick in World Cup play). No one else has scored more than one goal in Group B.