2023 Women’s World Cup draw: How the USWNT and Canada fared

With the draw for the 2023 Women’s World Cup completed, all eight groups are set, and both the USWNT and Canada know their opponents. Well, they know most of them. 

Teams still have three slots available to qualify for a playoff tournament in Aotearoa New Zealand, February 17-23 2019. There will be 10 teams competing for the final three slots.Two teams were from the Asian confederation, two each from Africa and CONCACAF, as well as one each from South America and Oceania. 

The draw took place in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland and split the 32 teams into eight groups. Australia and New Zealand will be the tournament host countries. They will kick off their group games in Auckland and Gadigal Sydney as A1 and Bi1 respectively. 

FIFA draw principlesTeams from different confederations should not be placed in the same group. This meant that teams drawn randomly into one group were moved to the bottom of that group to avoid conflict. Due to the sheer number of UEFA members, two UEFA groups are permitted in a group. 

These are the eight groups.

Portugal has been seeded into the final of Group A in the qualification playoff tournament. Thailand and Cameroon will be facing off first. Chile will face the winner of Senegal against Haiti in Group B. Four teams make up Group C: Paraguay will face Chinese Taipei, while Papua New Guinea faces Panama. To determine who wins the World Cup, the winners of these two matches will be matched.

What does the draw signify for the United States of America?

As the first team drawn to Group E, the U.S., winners of the last two Women’s World Cups, will be playing their group-stage games in Auckland and Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. The following is their schedule:

Saturday, July 23rd: USA (current FIFA global ranking: No. 1) vs. Vietnam 34)
Thursday, July 27, 2012: USA vs. Netherlands (No. 8)
Thursday, August 1st: USA vs. winner of the playoff group A

The World Cup’s easiest group is this one. After the ceremony, U.S. head coach Vlatko Andonovski called it “good, somewhat tough.” But, between the likely opponents — Netherlands notwithstanding — and the travel schedule, the U.S. has an excellent shot at advancing from group and entering knockout rounds having spent much less time in transit compared to teams in groups that have to jump between Sydney and Boorloo Perth, for example. 

“This is where the real preparation begins.”

Vlatko checks into @FOXSoccer‘s @stuholden post-draw 🎥 pic.twitter.com/yDC3MM5Z55

— U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (@USWNT) October 22, 2022

The top match-up in this group is clearly the U.S. vs. the Netherlands — two teams that have some history together. The U.S. beat the Dutch 2-0 in the 2019 World Cup final, and at last year’s Olympic tournament, the U.S. advanced past the Netherlands in the round of 16, winning a penalty shootout 4-2. 

We could also be in for a redux of last year’s discourse around Thailand for yet another World Cup, not just because there’s a chance that they could be the final team to make Group E. In 2019, the U.S. began their tournament against Thailand and won 13-0, sparking a debateThe topic revolves around how the top teams, like the U.S., handle inferior opposition and celebrate. This time around, it’s Vietnam’s first World Cup, and they’ll be the first to face a USWNT deeply hungry to claim a first ever World Cup three-peat. 

The question here for the USWNT is placement coming out of the group stage: first place means they’ll face off against the second-place finisher in Group G — and it means that they could avoid a potential round of 16 match-up against familiar foes Sweden (assuming they finish first in Group G). 

There’s one simple way for the U.S. to achieve this: pick up all three points over the Netherlands, the major test of the group.

If there’s a ‘group of death,’ Canada got it

After any major tournament draw, the first question is always “who got the toughest group — the ‘group of death’?” 

In this World Cup, it’s probably Group B: Australia (No. 13), Republic of Ireland at No. 24), Nigeria (No. 24), Nigeria (No. 7). This is the group that feels like it has the most parity amongst its four teams, and therefore could end up being the most chaotic — or the worst grind in terms of everyone taking points off of each other. 

Australia is a favourite for the tournament due to its past performances and being a host nation. However, they have had mixed results lately, losing to smaller countries and winning to Canada and South Korea. In fact, Olympic gold-medal winner Canada lost two friendlies to Australia in September. Australia also suffered a shocking 7-1 defeat against Spain in June.

That’s a very bolstering result for Canada, though; earlier I (Steph) called them a “Team that is brutally defensive” and they’re going to need that in Group B. Australia and Nigeria in particular have some high-flying scoring power that could hammer Canada into some more gritty 1-0 or 2-1 results. 

Unfortunately for Canada, by virtue of getting drawn as B4, they do get hit with the Naarm Melbourne–Perth–Melbourne five-hour haul for group play, while Australia get to stay clustered on their country’s east coast. 

Are there any other match-ups we should be watching?

Usually there’s just one big opening match for the host nation, but this time we get two: New Zealand vs. Norway in Auckland at Eden Park and Australia vs. Republic of Ireland in Sydney at Sydney Football Stadium, both on Thursday, July 20. Although there are high expectations for both countries, they may have different reasons. Australia has made moves toward cementing their status as a global power in women’s soccer, but haven’t been able to make it stick yet. New Zealand (No. 22) are a team which is continuously evolving. Being asked to do more for lessThey have been exemplary for many years in heart and results. They will be more determined to make a good showing after coming within inches of beating their long-time regional foes Australia in an April friend, only to lose by two devastating goals in the final minutes. 

A lot of attention will be paid to Euro champions England in group D (Click here to see their journey), alongside Denmark (No. China (No. 18), China (No. 38), Senegal (No. 38), Senegal, No. 84 or Haiti (No. 56). 56). Honestly, all three of those games have the potential to be very fun, particularly if Chile makes it out of the playoffs, but there’s definitely a heavier thumb on England’s side of the scale. 

Group F includes France (No. Brazil (No. 9), which is definitely one the best combinations of the group stage. They’ll face each other on July 29 in Brisbane. If you are a USWNT fan and plan on making the trip down to New Zealand, consider staying in Wellington for a few extra days. Sweden (No. Wellington Regional Stadium will host Sweden (No. Wellington will also be hosting Spain (No. Japan (No.6) will host Wellington. 11) in Group C action on July 31st, which could determine which team has the best seeding going into the knockout stages.

And if your plan was to use Sydney as a base camp for the World Cup, it’s not a bad approach — you’ll start with that Australia tournament opener, then get France vs. Jamaica, Colombia vs. Korea, England vs. Denmark, Germany vs. Colombia, then France facing off against their playoff group winner. That’s plenty of top teams rolling through town, plus Melbourne and Brisbane might be doable as side trips for a match or two.

(Photo: Matt Roberts – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)