With 2023 only a week old, many are looking forward to a new year with renewed optimism and excitement for what is to come.

In a sporting sense 2023 will be a big year for Australia, with the crowning jewel being hosting the Women’s World Cup in July.

With it likely to be the biggest sporting event on our shores since the 2000 Olympics in terms of viewership, the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be a spectacle unlike anything we have ever seen before.

To help get ready well in advance for the event, I’m writing a guide to provide some more detail and insight about the teams competing.

For Groups A to D you can read Part 1, published late last year.

Group E

USA, Vietnam, Netherlands, playoff winner A

Without a doubt the USA is the biggest team coming into the tournament, and much of the coverage surrounding this women’s world cup will be of the star-spangled banner. The mission for the USWNST this July is simple: become the first team in history to win three world cups in a row. To achieve this, they will rely on many of the players who broke onto the scene in France, such as Rose Lavelle, Abby Dahlkemper and Tierna Davidson, to help send out some of their greatest players, like Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn, on a high in what’s likely to be their last World Cup. Recent losses to England, Spain and Germany show that the likelihood of a three-peat may be harder than many would assume, but you would be foolish to count them out of the discussion of tournament favourites.

Vietnam will be one of at least five countries making their Women’s World Cup debut. This will also be Vietnam’s debut at a senior FIFA tournament. While largely successful within the South-East Asia region by having won the most recent gold medal in the event at the SEA Games, they were unable to translate that success into wider Asia until their recent quarter-final appearance in the Women’s Asian Cup last year, which allowed them to qualify for the Women’s World Cup. If they are to challenge any teams in the tournament, it will likely be due to captain Huynh Nhu continuing her immense scoring record for Vietnam. She currently sits on 62 goals from 84 caps for Vietnam.

The Netherlands will be coming into the tournament hoping to do one better than they did in France and will have a golden opportunity in the group stage to exact revenge on the team that beat them in France. However, having Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema likely to be out for the tournament through a torn ACL means a significant blow to the side. Along with having a new manager in Andries Jonker, repeating their efforts in France will be harder than initially expected.

The playoff winner of Group A will be decided in February 2023 with a playoff between Thailand and Cameroon, who won their repechage match in the Women’s African Cup of Nations. The winner of that match will then play Portugal, who was the lowest ranked winner out of the European playoffs, to decide who plays in Group E.

Match of the group: USA vs Netherlands (27 July at Wellington Regional Stadium)

Undoubtedly this is the pick of the group-stage matches. We rarely see a Women’s World Cup final rematch within the tournament, let alone in the group stage. Plus a game between two top-ten-ranked teams is just too good to ignore.

Group prediction

1. USA
2. Netherlands
3. Winner playoff A
4. Vietnam

(Photo by Franck Fife / AFP / Getty Images)

Group F

France, Jamaica, Brazil, playoff winner C

Les Bleues are perpetually underrated by many in the world of women’s football while often making it far in many international tournaments, though they never seem able to win it all. Having at least made the quarter-finals of every major continental and international tournament since 2009, France has also shown themselves to be a challenge but have never been able to quite reach the top. France are also coming to the back end of a golden generation, and this will likely be the last World Cup appearance for captain Wendie Renard, making way for the next generation of young French footballers, including the likes of defender Selma Bacha and forward Marie-Antoinette Katoto, who is already averaging 0.82 goals per match for France. Les Bleues will hope to continue and better this quarter-final streak at international tournaments in 2023.

The Reggae Girlz look very different this time around compared to the team that appeared in France for their Women’s World Cup debut. While in 2019 the story surrounding Jamaica was how Cedella Marley had helped save the team and how they surprised all to make it there, this time around they are far more experienced and could very much make their way into the knockouts. Players such as Drew Spence, Khadija Shaw, and Paige Bailey-Gayle now play in top European leagues regularly. This has drastically improved the quality of Jamaica – they reached their highest FIFA ranking last year at No. 42 and will be looking to improve on this by August.

Brazil has been a team of perennial success in women’s football boasting the names of legends such as the evergreen Marta playing in her sixth World Cup, assuming she recovers from injury, the reliable Tamires, who has been integral to the Brazilian defence for the last decade, and Cristiane, who has a constant source of goals for Brazil. While they’re headlined by all these icons, Brazil have seen some performance regression at the World Cup with consecutive Round of 16 losses. However, with legendary coach Pia Sundhage having taken the reins for this cup cycle, it looks likely they will once again return to the pointy end of the knockout stage and maybe even be dark horse contenders.

The playoff winner of Group C will be decided in February 2023 with OFC Champions Papua New Guinea playing Panama, who finished third in Group B in CONCACAF. Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), who finished runners-up in the Asian Cup playoffs, will play Paraguay, who placed fourth in the Copa America Femenina. The winner of those two matches will then play each other to decide who plays in Group F.

Match of the group: Brazil vs France (29 July at Brisbane Stadium)

With Brazil and France tipped to be the two runaway teams of the group, this match will likely decide who avoids playing Germany in the Round of 16 and which team will likely meet them in Melbourne to play for a quarter-final spot.

Group prediction

1. Brazil
2. France
3. Jamaica
4. Playoff winner C

Group G

Sweden, South Africa, Italy, Argentina

Sweden have been a dominant superpower over an illustrious history in women’s football, particularly at the Women’s World Cup. Though they’re one of seven teams to have qualified for every edition of the tournament, they have not reached the ultimate prize despite making the semi-finals in three of the last five Women’s World Cups. They have a lot of depth in the national team across all positions, which allows for various players to play their roles in a well-oiled machine that promotes attacking football. With a defence consisting of the likes of Magdalena Eriksson and Hanna Glas, midfielders such as Caroline Seger and Hanna Bennison, and strikers Stina Blackstenius and Sofia Jakobsson, they won the Algarve Cup last year as well as making semi-finals appearances in their last Euro and World Cup appearances. While a 4-0 loss to Australia dropped some expectations, see this result as the exception and not the rule to the overall performance of the Swedish team.

South Africa are in an interesting place leading into the Women’s World Cup. Six months ago they had won just the Women’s AFCON in a dominant display that would bring continental success for the first time in their history. But when they play teams outside of Africa, it’s a completely different story. A 4-1 loss to Australia, 6-0 and 3-0 losses to Brazil and a 5-1 defeat against the Dutch in recent friendlies show the gulf of skill between performances on the continent and outside of it regardless of their competitive nature. The challenge for the Banyana Banyana in July will be to translate continental dominance on a global stage. If not, they’ll have to wait until 2027 for a possible home Women’s World Cup to get their first win.

Italy are also in a bizarre position being incredibly inconsistent with their performances, which makes them a worry going into the Women’s World Cup. They were unable to win any games in their recent Euros appearance. and this has continued with losses against Austria and Northern Ireland, causing more concern within the Italian camp. While many experienced players were out for those friendlies, Italy should still have won them, particularly with all but one of these players playing together regularly through Seria A. It remains to be seen if they can put the pieces together and repeat the efforts that saw them make the quarter-finals in 2019 or whether they will repeat their Euros group-stage failure from last year.

Argentina have not improved much since their 2019 performance. After a great display in France by managing draws to Japan and Scotland and a commendable 1-0 loss against England, the sky was the limit for La Albiceleste. They showed they had the potential to rival Brazil for continental supremacy, but this has not transpired in this cycle. Maybe a lack of games has resulted in the team stagnating, or perhaps it’s because they’re trying to adjust to the new tactics of Germán Portanova – whatever the case, recent results like their 7-0 loss to Spain show that they may not be able to improve upon their better-than-expected results from 2019.

Match of the group: Italy vs Argentina (24 July in Eden Park)

Given none of these teams have every played each other, this should be an interesting group to watch. In this instance, it’s rare to see two major footballing countries like Argentina and Italy play each other at a World Cup outside of the knockout stage. The pressure will be on both teams to uphold this strong tradition of footballing success, and that should make for an entertaining game, particularly in the first week.

Group prediction

1. Sweden
2. Italy
3. South Africa
4. Argentina

Group H

Germany, Morocco, Colombia, South Korea

Germany off the back of their heartbreaking Euros loss to England last year will be hoping to avenge that performance by going one better in the Women’s World Cup. While they may not be as good as the golden generation that won two world cups before them, they remain in the top calibre of nations through their incredible defensive plays, as shown through having the most defensive recoveries during the Euros. Goalkeeper Merle Frohms has also been crucial in their performance of late, with eight clean sheets throughout 2022. Alexandra Popp has also played a vital role in the German side, contributing eight goals in the calendar year, which was her best return since 2011. Germany needs to have a great Women’s World Cup to show that their last appearances at the tournament were merely outliers and not the new normal.

Morocco are creating history at this Women’s World Cup by being the first Arab country to qualify for the event. They did so in emphatic fashion by finishing runners-up in the Women’s AFCON, which saw them just fall short against South Africa. To think that this was the first time that they had made the tournament finals in 22 years adds to the remarkability of this achievement. Morocco would have likely missed out on qualifying without the performances of Ghizlane Chebbak, who was named as player of the tournament through her three goals. If Morocco have any chance of extending the fairytale into July, it will likely be as a result of her replicating her form from women’s AFCON.

Colombia are going into the Women’s World Cup in red-hot form and could cause a few upsets. Winning 11 of their last 12 friendlies against weaker opponents like Zambia, Costa Rica and Bolivia may not properly prepare them for the quality of opponents they will face, but getting wins can help create confidence, which is crucial going into a tournament of this magnitude. Leicy Santos is very much the star of this team. Currently playing with Atletico Madrid, she is very much the engine that gets Colombia moving like a well-oiled machine through her passing, providing a lot of attacking opportunities for her country. It is certainly a team to keep an eye on throughout the competition.

South Korea are hoping to build on their success in last year’s Asian Cup and continue to improve under Englishman Colin Bell, who has helped reshape the squad. Coming off a disappointing World Cup in 2019, Bell was appointed coach and has helped the South Koreans return to the top 15 of FIFA’s women’s rankings for the first time since 2019. This was largely off their runners-up performance in the Asian Cup, which saw them beat Australia and draw with Japan before being beaten by China.

However, they have tended to underperform in the Women’s World Cup, winning only once in three appearances. The pressure will be on South Korea to reach their potential at an international tournament, lest they underachieve yet again on the biggest stage.

Match of the group: Germany vs Morocco (24 July at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium)

Morocco’s first match at the Women’s World Cup will be a historic moment to behold, particularly playing Germany, who are historical powerhouses. Hopefully it can inspire the next generation of Moroccan and Arabian girls to pursue football.

Group prediction

1. Germany
2. Colombia
3. Morocco
4. South Korea