FILE – Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas celebrates after scoring her side’s second goal during the Women’s Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Real Madrid at Johan Cruyff stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, March 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort, File)
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off on Thursday. The ninth edition of the tournament travels to Australia and New Zealand from July 20-Aug. 20 and promises to be the most widely watched one to date. The defending champions, the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) will open their campaign against Vietnam on Saturday, July 22.
There are eight groups consisting of four nations, each country will play every team in their group once. The top two teams in each group will then move on to the knockout stages of the tournament.
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2o23 Women’s World Cup: Group C
Spain
- Nickname: La Roja
- FIFA Rank: 6th
- World Cup appearances: 3rd
- Best finish: Round of 16 (2019)
Following Spain’s qualification for this year’s Women’s World Cup (WWC), 15 players announced their resignation, citing problems with the coaching staff, including manager Jorge Vilda, in a tense standoff with the Spanish FA. La Roja will play the tournament with an incredibly different squad from the one that qualified by winning all eight games of their group in September. There is also uncertainty regarding their superstar midfielder, Alexia Putellas who was voted The Best FIFA Women’s Player for the last two years with Barcelona. The 29-year-old is recovering from an ACL injury but has been named on the squad to travel to Australia and New Zealand. This Spanish side reached the final 16 in France four years ago and will open their campaign against Costa Rica on July 21.
Costa Rica
- Nickname: Las Ticas
- FIFA Rank: 36th
- World Cup appearances: 2nd
- Best finish: Group stages
Costa Rica will hope to reach…
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