AUCKLAND/TĀMAKI MAKAURAU, New Zealand (Oct. 22, 2022) – The U.S. Women’s National Team will face World Cup debutant Vietnam, Netherlands and the Group A Playoff Winner -- either Portugal, Thailand or Cameroon -- in Group E at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup taking place from July 20-Aug. 20 in 10 stadiums and nine host cities, five in Australia and four in New Zealand.
The U.S. will open Group E play against Vietnam on July 22 at Eden Park in Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau, which will also serve as the host venue for the Opening Ceremony of the 2023 World Cup on July 20 when New Zealand plays Norway. The USA then faces Netherlands on July 27 at Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara, followed by the Group A Playoff Winner on Aug. 1 at Eden Park in Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau.
The U.S. Women’s National Team has played 713 matches in its history but has never played a match in New Zealand.
The meeting with the Netherlands marks the first time in FIFA Women’s World Cup history that the two finalists from the previous tournament will meet in group play. This will be the ninth FIFA Women’s World Cup that has been contested.
The USA playing two matches at Eden Park will be a boon for U.S. fans as the seating capacity of 50,000 fans makes it the third largest stadium in the tournament. The Wellington Regional Stadium seats 33,500 fans. The USA will play the entirety of the group stage in New Zealand. In order to optimize the specific match details for the benefit of supporters, teams and the media, the final kickoff times for all 64 matches will be confirmed shortly.
|
Date |
Opponent |
Venue; City |
|
July 22 |
Vietnam |
Eden Park; Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau |
|
July 27 |
Netherlands |
Wellington Regional Stadium; Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara |
|
Aug. 1 |
Group A Playoff Winner |
Eden Park; Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau |
”I’m excited about our draw because this is where the real preparation starts,” said U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Vlatko Andonovski. “Now, it’s about getting ready for the actual opponents. Vietnam is a team we have never faced before but we know they came out of a challenging qualification process in Asia and will be incredibly energized to play their first ever match at the World Cup. The Netherlands is a team we know well so it’s two quality teams in the second match of the group stage and it’s going to be a fun, exciting game. And of course, we will have to wait until February to see our third and final opponent, but whoever makes it out of the playoff is going to be battle-tested and will present some unique challenges that we will need to be prepared to handle. I know all the players and coaches are energized about our group and we’re really looking forward to getting to work to prepare for our three opponents.”
The Final Draw was held at the Aotea Centre in Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand, setting the schedule and the groups for what will be the largest FIFA Women’s World Cup in history with an expanded field of 32 teams. It will also be first FIFA Women’s World Cup in the southern hemisphere and the first to be co-hosted by two nations.
As the top-ranked team in the world, the USA was among the eight seeded teams in the tournament and prior to the Final Draw was placed in Pot 1 with the seven other seeds, including hosts New Zealand and Australia, which were placed atop Groups A and B, respectively. After the hosts were placed into their groups, the seeds were then drawn and placed in position 1 in their corresponding group. The other seeds were five European teams: Sweden, Germany, England, France and Spain. The USA was the fifth team to be drawn overall and third at random after co-hosts New Zealand and Australia, and was placed in Group E.
Prior to the Final Draw, the remaining teams were also placed into pots in descending order according to their FIFA rankings.
The USA then drew Netherlands from Pot 2, Vietnam from Pot 3 and the Group A Playoff Winner from Pot 4. The Group A Playoff Winner will be decided between Feb. 18-23, 2023. Thailand and Cameroon play in the first match of the playoff on Feb. 18 with Portugal facing the winner of that contest on Feb. 22 to determine the team which will advance to the World Cup. The U.S. will face Vietnam for the first time ever and could potentially face Cameroon for the first time should they win the Group A Playoff.
While the USA will face Vietnam for the first time, it also has a relatively brief history with the Dutch, even if recent meetings have been epic. The USA has played the Netherlands just 10 times and just seven times in the past 16 years, but the three most recent meetings were a 2-0 win in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final in Lyon, France, a 2-0 win in a friendly in Breda, Netherlands in November of 2020 in the first post-COVID era match for the USA, and a dramatic penalty kick shootout win in the quarterfinals of the Olympics in Japan after a 2-2 tie in regulation.
