The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand began on July 20. A few days into the tournament, it seems appropriate to comment on some of the early trends and developments of the competition. One of the major storylines going into this Women’s World Cup was of course about whether or not the USWNT would be able to do what no team of either gender has done before by winning the global tournament three three times in a row. But there are many other great topics as well.
Analysis and Opinion on the Early FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup Games
Opening Day Recap
HISTORY! ⚽ 🇳🇿
The Football Ferns open the #FIFAWWC with a MASSIVE win 😍 pic.twitter.com/kDLLVRQwsP
— Sky Sport NZ (@skysportnz) July 20, 2023
Day one headlined each of the hosts’ opening fixtures. Both the Football Ferns and the Matildas ultimately came away with 1-0 victories, albeit in a significantly different fashion, at least based on prior expectations. First New Zealand deservedly defeated Norway, a traditional powerhouse of the women’s game to claim their only win in WWC history to date. Australia on the other hand, had surprising difficulty against first-time qualifiers Republic of Ireland, ultimately scoring from a Steph Catley penalty kick to defeat the newcomers.
Unusually Many Penalties Given
Speaking of spot kicks in general, they were a major theme in the first few days of the competition. In fact, each of the first eight matches of the tournament saw the referee award a penalty to one of the teams involved. Just as strangely, only half of those went in.
Another talking point early on in this competition is that many games have been far more competitive than one might expect based on previous Women’s World Cups. Even just four years ago in France, the United States defeated Thailand by an incredible 13-0 score. Before that, Germany had beaten Argentina by 11-0 in the 2007 World Cup opening match. So far in this tournament, there have been many encounters that experts might have feared a similarly lopsided result. Yet, as of this writing, no game has ended in anything approaching a double-digit result. The most one-sided match until now was Japan’s 5-0 victory over the Women’s World Cup newcomers from Zambia, Germany beat Morocco 6-0, and Brazil beating Panama 4-0. Besides that, only two matches finished 3-0 (Spain defeated Costa Rica, and the USWNT overcame Vietnam by that score).
READ MORE: Will This Trip Down Under Become Known as the Lionesses’ World Cup?
Meanwhile, European champions England narrowly escaped with a 1-0 win against Haiti, thanks to a penalty kick goal by Georgia Stanway. Elsewhere, Jamaica earned a point in a scoreless draw with France and Sweden came from behind to defeat South Africa 2-1. For now, at least, that shows that many nations with fewer resources and less pedigree in women’s football have improved by leaps and bounds when it comes to the defensive side of the game. Though not all teams have entered the tournament as of this writing, judging based on the early evidence, FIFA’s decision to expand the competition to 32 teams for the first time may have been a correct one, but only time will tell. It certainly promises to be an exciting rest of the tournament. While we can say that play has been too cagy at times, it will surely open up, as the competition progresses.
Photo Credit: Jenna Watson-USA TODAY Sports, of a USWNT Headshot, on July 22, 2023.
