The Matildas have landed in a nightmare group for next year’s Women’s World Cup on home soil – and failure to finish top could lead to a daunting clash with England in the first knockout round.
Australia will be joined in Group B by Canada, Ireland and Nigeria – the three teams that coach Tony Gustavsson and his players would have been most hopeful of steering clear of in Saturday’s draw.
Superstar striker Sam Kerr will need to fire if the Matildas are to top their group.Credit:Getty
It’s the closest thing to a ‘group of death’ as was conceivable, and it means the Matildas will have to be at their absolute best to avoid an embarrassing early exit at next year’s tournament, which is being co-hosted with New Zealand and is expanding to 32 teams for the first time.
“Obviously, the teams are tough,” Matildas vice-captain Steph Catley, who plays for Arsenal, said on Optus Sport. “Ireland’s tricky. Canada’s really tough. Nigeria has some incredible players too, and African teams are really tough to play at major tournaments. It’s a tough group, but if you want to win, you’ve got to beat everyone.”
Canada, the reigning Olympic gold medallists and the world’s No.7-ranked side, came to Australia only last month and won back-to-back friendlies over an under-strength Matildas in Brisbane and Sydney, despite Bev Priestman also bringing with her a weakened squad.
They will now meet again at Melbourne’s AAMI Park next year in the Matildas’ final group stage assignment – and they will most likely need a win to prevent a match-up with England, the defending European champions, in the round of 16.
Mary Fowler cuts through the Canadian defence during their friendly last month in Brisbane.Credit:Getty
The Lionesses are in Group D with China, Denmark and a to-be-determined play-off winner, and will play their games in Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide. The second-placed team from that group will face the winner of Group B, and vice versa, pitting a major obstacle early on the Matildas’ pathway to the ultimate success in their home tournament.
“That’s nice and close to home for a lot of us that play over here,” said Catley. “It would be an absolutely incredible game if we did come up against them. If we get them nice and early, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. It also might help that we know the players so well.”
Maia Jackman draws Australia during the 2023 Women’s World Cup draw in Auckland on Saturday.Credit:Getty
Ireland, ranked No.24 in the world, also loom as a possible banana skin for the Matildas. The Irish won 3-2 the last time they faced Australia, in Dublin last year, and now their next meeting will be in Group B’s first fixture on July 20 at the new Allianz Stadium in Sydney – and it gets no easier with Nigeria, the 11-time African champions and the spikiest challenge in pot four.
New Zealand’s Football Ferns, meanwhile, will officially open the tournament against Norway earlier on that same day at Eden Park in Auckland, with Switzerland and the Philippines – coached by ex-Matildas boss Alen Stajcic – also drawn into Group A.
France and Germany are the other major nations that will spend their group-stage campaigns in Australia – but the United States, who have won the last two Women’s World Cups, won’t play in Australia at all unless they reach the final at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on August 20 after being drawn in Group E, which keeps them on the other side of the ditch in New Zealand, and the other side of the bracket to the Matildas.
Saturday’s draw at the Aotea Centre in Auckland was the last of the major pre-tournament milestones for the World Cup – one that FIFA president Gianni Infantino, in his opening address, said would turn Australia and New Zealand “upside down”.
“Nobody will speak any more about ‘Down Under’ – they will speak about ‘Up Over’,” said Infantino, who also drew groans from the crowd by describing FIFA as the world’s “official happiness provider”.
The Matildas will go into the tournament on the back of unconvincing form during Gustavsson’s two-year reign as coach, and in the hope that lessons learned from defeats to some of the world’s best teams during that time will steel them for their home World Cup campaign and all the pressure that comes with it.
“Now we know who we’ve got, we can start to figure out what sort of game plans we need,” Catley said.
“We also need to get everyone healthy, we need to get everyone on the same page and start to play some consistent football. We’ve just recently had some good results and got back to winning ways, so that’s been a nice little boost for everyone. But really, the real preparation starts now.”
2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP – THE GROUPS
Group A: New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland
Group B: Australia, Ireland, Nigeria, Canada
Australia’s matches:
vs Republic of Ireland (July 20, Allianz Stadium, Sydney)
vs Nigeria (July 27, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane)
vs Canada (July 31, AAMI Park, Melbourne)
Group C: Spain, Costa Rica, Zambia, Japan
Group D: England, Play-off Winner (Senegal, Haiti or Chile), Denmark, China
Group E: United States, Vietnam, Netherlands, Play-off Winner (Cameroon, Thailand or Portugal)
Group F: France, Jamaica, Brazil, Play-off Winner (Chinese Taipei, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea or Panama)
Group G: Sweden, South Africa, Italy, Argentina
Group H: Germany, Morocco, Colombia, South Korea
