U.S. WNT TO FACE AUSTRALIA, SWEDEN AND NIGERIA IN
GROUP D AT 2015 FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP IN CANADA
USA then faces Sweden on June 12 in Winnipeg and Nigeria on June 16 in Vancouver
OTTAWA, Canada (Dec. 6, 2014) – The U.S. Women’s National Team will face Australia, Nigeria and Sweden in Group D at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, taking place from June 6-July 5 in Canada. The Final Draw took place today at the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa.
The U.S. will open Group D play against Australia on June 8 at Winnipeg Stadium. The USA then faces Sweden on June 12 in Winnipeg, followed by Nigeria on June 16 at BC Place in Vancouver.
“It’s a good group to get us ready to play,” said U.S. WNT head coach Jill Ellis. “Physically, it’s a demanding group, but we’ve got a lot of depth on our roster and we’ll be able to manage against some good teams with some good challenges. It’s probably the toughest group. That’s historically been the path the USA has taken, and we’re obviously going to embrace it.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to play good teams to win it, and at some point you’re going to match up with quality opponents. We’ll be ready. We’ve got about five or six months to get prepared and ready to go.”
The USA, Nigeria and Sweden have competed in every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The U.S. has a combined 46-6-11 record against its three group opponents, holding a 163-54 scoring advantage. The USA is unbeaten against both Australia (22-0-2) and Nigeria (4-0-0). The U.S. has faced Sweden in the past three FIFA Women’s World Cups and was also the USA’s first ever Women’s World Cup opponent when FIFA’s premier women’s competition began with the 1991 event in China.
Six teams were seeded and placed in position 1 for each group: host nation Canada, Germany, defending champion Japan, the USA, Brazil and France.
Group A will consist of Canada, China PR, New Zealand and Netherlands. Group B is made up of No. 2-ranked Germany, Ivory Coast, Norway and Thailand. Group C features Japan, Switzerland, Cameroon and Ecuador. Group E includes Brazil, Korea Republic, Spain and Costa Rica. Group F is headed by France with England, Colombia and Mexico.
