THIS weekend turned out to be more incredible than I could have imagined. The Women’s World Cup produced beautiful to watch football that had you completely submerged in it all.

As the first quarter-final game between France and Germany got underway, it was a very nervy affair.

Both being top three teams, they felt they needed to win.

France started hard and Germany looked flabbergasted but sadly the French attempts could not get past solid German goalkeeper Angerer.

After a tense first-half both sides looked even more fired up and determined in the second-half and in the 64th minute France’s Necib managed to sink the ball into the back of the net. It was looking like there was no comeback for Germany and the harder they fought the scrappier they became but a dodgy handball decision resulted in the Canadian referee giving them a penalty with just six minutes to go.

Sasic went up to the spot and hammered it home to make it 1-1 with just minutes of regulation time to go.

After a tense and tiring 30 minutes of extra time, the game went to penalties.

All was going well for both sides as we approached 4-4, the Germans scored their fifth, but for France 20-year-old substitute Lavogez stepped up and nervously hit the ball without much power or direction giving Angerer enough of a touch to push it away from goal.

It seemed that nothing could live up to the football game that has just graced the screen.

Despite the lack of a last-minute goal, the US and China game proved to be just as fascinating to watch. The US were seemingly all over China with a full-on attack but thanks to good defending from the Chinese and poor finishing from the US the game finished 0-0 at half-time. It was starting to look increasingly likely that if there was not a goal at the start of the second-half then it would be another match headed for extra time and penalties.

After their half-time talk the US team huddled together and Wambach told them to go out and get a goal in the first 10 minutes and sure enough, US’s captain Lloyd stuck to script with a header in the 51st minute.

China could not fight back and their defence was becoming increasingly shaky as the goalkeeper started to run out to get the ball in the riskiest of situations, leaving defenders to stand on the goal line for when she inevitably didn’t catch it.

After 94 minutes the full-time whistle went and it was clear that the US, second in the world, had made simple work of their opponents.

Australia, a team delighted to just have made history by reaching the quarter-finals, found themselves up against current holders of the competition Japan. Despite some pundits expecting the Japanese to just run away with the game they were kept contained and goalless throughout much of regulation time.

The Australians were using skill and determination to push them back and counterattack when possible but it just was not enough for them to get a goal of their own. As the 90th minute got ever closer it looked like there was a chance Australia could force the game to penalties and do what nobody expected: win.

But Japan’s Iwabuchi had different ideas and in the 87th minute after a corner left the ball bouncing around the box she managed to get it into the net to put them up 1-0.

Despite last-minute scrambled attempts and every neutral screaming for them to get an equalising goal, it just was not to be for Australia, though they can still leave the competition with their heads held high after so many cracking performances throughout.

After watching three of the four quarter-final games I was increasingly pessimistic about how good it would be to watch England take on the hosts Canada. But it too proved to be a cracker and, even more to my surprise, England managed to pull quality out of the bag and show a bit of real want to win attitude.

Within the first 15 minutes England had managed to get themselves two goals up thanks to Taylor in the 11th minute and Bronze in the 14th. It seemed too good to be true for many England fans but I remained doubtful that we could keep it up throughout.

England’s keeper Bardsley was up to her usual tricks of punching the ball at every chance rather than attempting to catch it and in the 42nd minute she spilt the ball and allowed Canada’s Sinclair to grab a goal back.

No team had ever comeback from being 2-0 down at this stage in the competition but it seemed like the hosts might be about to change all that.

The second-half proved to be full of determination and some fouls that were very close to tipping the balance between what is okay and not.

In a surprise to everybody England had to use their first substitution of the game to take Bardsley off the pitch, due to a swelling face and her struggling to see, and bring Arsenal’s second-choice goalkeeper on instead. It seemed like it could all be about to crumble for England but somehow they kept it together and progressed to the next round.