The whole record of groups that made it to the 2023 World Cup embrace: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Haiti, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Eire, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Vietnam, and Zambia.
4. Match play begins in teams earlier than the competitors whittles down.
The 32 groups set to compete will endure a grueling, four-week taking part in course of to battle for a spot within the ultimate. Right here’s what it’s essential to know: Every workforce is assigned considered one of eight teams: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, or H. (The US workforce is in Group E, which additionally contains the Netherlands, Portugal, and Vietnam.)
Groups play one match in opposition to the opposite squads of their group. The emphasis is on racking up sufficient factors, that are decided by every workforce’s variety of victories (3 factors), attracts (1 level), and losses (0 factors). The highest two groups with probably the most factors from every group transfer on to the primary knockout stage. This is called the spherical of 16, referred to as that for the variety of groups that stay.
On this stage, the first-place workforce of every group performs the second-place workforce of one other group. The winners of this—the eight groups left—go on to the following knockout stage, or the quarter-finals. The successful 4 advance to the semi-finals, after which two groups are left standing for the ultimate. Third place is decided in a match between the losers of the semifinal spherical.
5. The US is trying to be the primary workforce ever to three-peat.
For the reason that inaugural Ladies’s World Cup in 1991, the US has dominated the occasion, racking up 4 titles out of the eight tournaments. They’ll stay the leaders after the 2023 World Cup no matter who wins, because the nation in second place, Germany, solely has two titles.
Nonetheless, the US workforce is trying so as to add to their lead, they usually’re in good place to take action: After back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2019, they enter the 2023 version because the two-time defending champions and the returning favourite.
They’ll face some robust competitors, although. Canada is returning after securing Olympic gold in Tokyo, and England gained the European championship in 2022. The US can be coming off a disappointing displaying on the 2020 Olympics, the place they earned bronze.
6. The US captain could also be out, however different gamers are able to step up.
Only a month earlier than play was set to start, US captain Becky Sauerbrunn confirmed {that a} foot damage she sustained in April would maintain her from World Cup play. “I’ve little doubt that the 23 gamers on the ultimate roster have every part they want—of their toes, their heads and their hearts—to convey our fifth trophy residence,” she wrote on Twitter.
With Sauerbrunn out, there are nonetheless a bunch of gamers to look at on the US workforce, together with a number of achieved mainstays and a few up-and-coming expertise:
