ADELAIDE, Australia — This World Cup finally ran out of its exhilarating supply of commendable dreamers from newfangled women’s soccer countries, the last one exiting Tuesday night when remarkable Morocco staggered into some of those big-old waves of European quality. Once the Atlas Lionesses trailed 3-0 after 23 minutes and lost, 4-0, to France, they followed South Africa and Jamaica to the to the round-of-16 exits even as the three had forged some milestones.
They had epitomized a world upgraded in parity, and they had widened the possibilities of little girls watching from their three countries plus overlooked lands all over the globe.