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Has the Women's World Cup captured the imagination in Canada?

Tonight, the FIFA Women's World Cup gets into the crunch stage as the quarter-finals get underway...



Has the Women's World Cup...
Soccer

Has the Women's World Cup captured the imagination in Canada?

Tonight, the FIFA Women's World Cup gets into the crunch stage as the quarter-finals get underway.

England are up against Canada tomorrow, while two-time champions Germany get the ball rolling against France tonight.

We were joined on Off The Ball by the BBC World Service's Sarah Mulkerrins, who is in Vancouver, to set the scene in Canada.

As she explained, FIFA have been keen to set the tournament up in a way to boost interest.

"This is the way that FIFA have organised it for the Women's World Cup, in terms of trying to have big matches throughout the tournament, positioning them in places that will have the North American crowds," she said.

"Canada are averaging 45,000 people for their games. They're expecting another record on Saturday here at BC Place in Vancouver with 54, 000 people. To put that in perspective, 54,000 people would be a record for any crowd to watch any Canadian team of any gender in any sport on home soil. So they really are bringing the home fans in."

Mulkerrins suggested cities like Vancouver have bought into the tournament, whereas "Montreal has really struggled to capture the imagination" with people there watching the Copa America above the major tournament they are actually hosting.    

Mulkerrins also ran the rule over the form of some of the main challengers for the World Cup trophy.

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