WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 2023
Women’s World Cup 2023 round of 16: qualified teams, games, dates, kick-off times…
Pre-tournament favourites the USWNT and England are in the hat for the round of 16, but Brazil and Germany are surprisingly out.
The group stage of the Women’s World Cup 2023 has come and gone, with Brazil’s elimination at the expense of Jamaica and Germany’s inability to progress from a group containing Colombia, Morocco and South Korea the biggest shocks The USWNT, meanwhile, will certainly have been disappointed to finish second in Group E to the Netherlands.
Which teams performed won most points in the group stage?
With the Stars and Stripes, the pre-tournament favourites, looking weaker than in previous tournaments so far, picking a winner is becoming an increasingly difficult challenge. Euro 2022 winners England breezed through their group with maximum points but only just scraped past minnows Haiti in their opening match, leaving Japan, who dismantled a talented Spain side, as arguably the most impressive performers.
Sweden were the third team to win all three of their matches, although they needed a last-minute winner to see off South Africa and were bizarrely outplayed for parts of their 5-0 thrashing of Italy, which was achieved mainly due to their set-piece play.
USWNT must do it the hard way
Given the option of facing either the Swedes or the South Africans, the USWNT would undoubtedly have chosen the latter, but their failure to beat either the Netherlands or Portugal means they will have to do things the hard way if they are to reach the quarter-finals (Sweden won’t be too happy with that either…).
One host out of two remains
As for the home nations, Australia qualified as group winners despite losing to Nigeria, but there was heartbreak for New Zealand, who were eliminated on goal difference as a result of Norway’s big win over the Philippines.
Saturday 5 August
Switzerland vs Spain (1:00 a.m. ET, Auckland)
Japan vs Norway (4:00 a.m. ET, Wellington)
Netherlands vs South Africa (10:00 p.m. ET, Sydney Football Stadium)
Sunday 6 August
Sweden vs USWNT (5:00 a.m. ET, Melbourne)
Monday 7 August
England vs Nigeria (3:30 a.m. ET, Brisbane)
Australia vs Denmark (6:30 a.m. ET, Sydney: Stadium Australia)
Tuesday 8 August
Colombia vs Jamaica (4:00 a.m. ET, Melbourne)
France vs Morocco (7:00 a.m. ET, Adelaide)
Who could the USWNT face in the quarter-finals?
The winner of the Sweden vs USWNT clash will take on either Japan or Norway in the quarter-finals, with the Netherlands or Spain potentially semi-final opponents, assuming the teams in question make it that far, which is by no means certain.