The FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand kicks off on July 20.
AFP Sport takes a detailed look at Group B:
AUSTRALIA (FIFA ranking 10)
Coach: Tony Gustavsson (SWE)
Star player: Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
Best World Cup performance: Quarter-finals (2007, 2011, 2015)
The Matildas have featured at seven World Cups and never progressed beyond the quarter-finals.
But on home soil and with momentum from a string of encouraging results, they are among the favourites with perhaps their most talented squad ever.
Much will depend on the form of Chelsea striker Sam Kerr, Australia’s skipper and leading goal-scorer who is one of the superstars of women’s football. She will be the face of the tournament.
Kerr is supported by a host of quality players, including Lyon’s Ellie Carpenter, Caitlin Foord of Arsenal and Manchester City duo Mary Fowler and Alanna Kennedy.
Their Swedish coach Tony Gustavsson was appointed in 2020 and took time to settle in. He now faces the biggest test of his career.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (FIFA ranking 22)
Coach: Vera Pauw (NED)
Star player: Katie McCabe (Arsenal)
Best World Cup performance: first appearance
Ireland scraped into their first World Cup with a play-off win over arch-rivals Scotland, reversing decades of underperformance.
Former Netherlands manager Vera Pauw has been central to the turnaround, along with captain and Arsenal talisman McCabe.
In the qualifiers they beat Georgia, held Sweden to a draw and moved to a play-off place with narrow wins over Finland and Slovakia.
In the playoff, Amber Barrett’s 72nd-minute strike was enough to propel them past Scotland and into a maiden finals.
Along with the versatile McCabe, Ireland will rely heavily on experienced US-based Denise O’Sullivan and Birmingham City’s Louise Quinn, who both have more than 100 caps each.
NIGERIA (FIFA ranking 40)
Coach: Randy Waldrum (USA)
Star player: Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
Best World Cup performance: Quarter-finals (1999)
The Super Falcons are by far Africa’s most successful international women’s football team, winning 11 Africa Cup of Nations titles, most recently in 2018.
One of the few nations to have qualified for every World Cup, they are contesting their ninth in Australia and New Zealand, with their best result the quarter-finals in 1999.
In Barcelona striker Asisat Oshoala they boast one of the greatest African footballers of all time in the women’s game, while inspirational captain Onome Ebi will be playing in an incredible sixth World Cup at age 40.
CANADA (FIFA ranking 7)
Coach: Beverly Priestman (ENG)
Star player: Christine Sinclair (Portland Thorns, USA)
Best World Cup performance: Fourth place (2003)
The Tokyo Olympic gold medallists have qualified for every World Cup except the first in 1991, with a fourth-placed finish in 2003 the highlight so far.
They enter this tournament after a disrupted build-up that saw them threaten to strike over pay, funding and contractual issues.
They are also missing key forward Janine Beckie, who has a knee injury.
That makes 40-year-old skipper Christine Sinclair, who is the all-time leading scorer in international football, even more pivotal.
Now in her 23rd year on the Canadian team, she is at her sixth World Cup and has made more than 300 appearances for her country.
“We’re going there to win it,” she declared last week.
