David Vincent/Associated Press
RENNES, France — The math, which worked so mercilessly against Thailand in its first two matches of the Women’s World Cup, was for a time on Thursday improbably, wondrously, tilting in its favor.
After two pitiless defeats, Thailand still had a chance to reach the second round. If Cameroon and New Zealand played to a tie, and Thailand defeated Chile, the embarrassment of losing by 13 goals to the United States would dissolve into an unlikely, extraordinary advancement.
“It would be the best thing ever,” Miranda Nild, Thailand’s American-born forward, said at the team hotel on Thursday afternoon.