WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 2023
Top scorer Tessa Wullaert laments missing Women’s World Cup 2023
The Belgian star netted on 17 occasions during qualification for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand but it wasn’t enough to make it through.
When Belgium began their campaign to qualify for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, they must have thought that having the top scorer across the 172 teams would be sufficient to secure passage through to the finals. As it turned out, it wasn’t, and Tessa Wullaert, who bagged 17 goals in 11 games, has been speaking about her disappointment in not being at the showpiece tournament this summer. It would have been the nation’s first appearance, something much more important than a goals tally she believes.
Wullaert scores most goals but Belgium fall short
“That’s all that really matters,” Wullaert explained to FIFA+ when discussing missing out. “Being on top of that scoring table is great, and I’m proud of those stats. They’re pretty amazing when I hear them read out like that. But in the end they mean nothing when you don’t qualify.
“I do think I’ve done my job for the team though, and we were unfortunate to lose that play-off against Portugal. Even though they had home advantage, that was a game that could have gone either way. I actually scored a second goal that night, which was ruled out for offside, but I didn’t know, so I was really celebrating. Then we lost a goal right at the end to a set piece, so it was incredibly disappointing.
“I’ve just been trying to find the positives since then and, for me, it’s that I’ve been struggling with my Achilles ever since the EURO, always playing with some pain. I had no time to rest it last year, so an easy summer will probably do it good. But yeah, nothing beats a World Cup. It’s really unfortunate we won’t be there.”
Asked whether the next edition, in 2027, would see Belgium finally qualify, Wullaert was optimistic.
“I really hope so. It always depends on the group you get in qualifying but I do think we’re getting closer. If you see how we played in February at the Arnold Clark Cup, we beat Italy and South Korea (both qualifiers for Australia & New Zealand 2023). I actually think if we’d brought our level from that tournament to the play-off against Portugal, we’d be going to the World Cup ourselves.
“But yeah, I think we can feel optimistic for 2027. I’m actually hoping that one will be in Belgium (the Belgians have announced a joint bid to host the next edition with Germany and the Netherlands) and then we won’t even need to qualify! [laughs] That would be great!”
Wullaert races with Lukaku for top scorer
Romelu Lukaku, currently plying his trade for Inter Milan, is often believed to be Belgium’s top scorer, something Wullaert is quick to put right, and with 75 goals for her country already, the race to a ton with her male compatriot is on.
“It would be nice to reach 100 goals for Belgium. Not many players in the world have managed 100 goals for their country, and certainly no-one in Belgium. I’m in a close race with Lukaku too. He’s only one or two goals behind me. People often forget that and say that Lukaku is Belgium’s highest goalscorer. I have to tell them, ‘Well, actually, it’s me!’
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep ahead of him but I think I have a good number of goals still in me. 100 is definitely a big target in my career. That and a World Cup of course!”
Check out the full interview on FIFA+.