Women’s World Cup schedule: Start times for every match and scores

The 2023 Women’s World Cup, which kicked off in Australia and New Zealand last week, is the largest ever with 32 teams playing 64 games over a month.

It also could turn out to be the most competitive Women’s World Cup ever, with England, the reigning European champion; Germany, a two-time world champion; Canada, the Olympic champion; and the Netherlands, a World Cup finalist four years ago, among a half-dozen teams poised to knock off the U.S., which is going for an unprecedented third straight title.

“It’s our responsibility to find the next step, to find the next 1% to push the team forward and keep this team up front,” U.S. manager Vlatko Andonovski said before the start of the tournament. Here’s a look at each of the teams in the biggest and deepest women’s soccer tournament in history.

The buzz: A VAR review cost New Zealand a draw against the Philippines, leaving it likely needing a win over Switzerland to reach the World Cup knockout round for the first time. The Football Ferns could also move on with a draw but only if Norway doesn’t beat the Philippines by multiple goals, and even then there’s likely to be additional math involved given the myriad group-stage tiebreakers.

Meanwhile Switzerland, the only unbeaten team in the group, is fully in control of its own destiny. Win and it’s through to the next round as the group champion. It would also advance with a draw but that might mean going as the group runner-up.

The buzz: Who had Norway, a former World Cup champion, going into group-play final winless and looking up at the tournament debutante Philippines in the table? But that’s where we are, with Norway needing a win and a lot of help to avoid elimination in the first round for just the second time in nine World Cups.

Not only is Norway winless in New Zealand, it’s been held scoreless as well, falling 1-0 to New Zealand and playing Switzerland to a scoreless draw. It needs to win here by at least three goals to have a real chance to advance on goal differential, depending on the result of New Zealand-Norway.

The Philippines, whose roster includes 18 U.S.-born players, would qualify for the second round as the group champion with a win and a draw in the other game.

The buzz: Racing Louisville’s Ary Borges, one of 61 NWSL players called up for the World Cup, had a hat trick in Brazil’s 4-0 opening-game win over Panama. Brazil outshot Panama 32-6 in that game, taking 18 tries from inside the box and putting 10 on target. Another win here would leave Brazil well-positioned to advance.

Highly regarded France, meanwhile, a pre-tournament favorite, has a lot of work to do after a scoreless draw with Jamaica in its first game; anything short of a win here will leave it with a steep hill to climb. France had 72% possession in that game, putting five shots on goal, but Jamaica keeper Rebecca Spencer would not be beaten.

Perhaps more costly for France was the stoppage-time tackle Jamaica’s Khadija “Bunny” Shaw made on France captain Wendie Renard. The play earned Shaw a suspension but it left Renard, France’s top defender, with a calf injury that could keep her sidelined through the rest of the group stage.

The buzz: The loss of captain Khadija “Bunny” Shaw to a suspension will hurt Jamaica since Shaw had half the Reggae Girlz six shots in their opening draw with France.

Panama was outplayed in its World Cup debut, giving up two goals in each half against Brazil. The loss was its third straight and Panama has been outscored 16-0 in that slide. An upset of Jamaica here and La Marea Roja could dream of a berth in the knockout round.

The more likely result is Jamaica’s first-ever World Cup win, which would leave the Reggae Girlz in control of their own destiny heading into the group-play final.

The buzz: Both teams opened the first round with one-goal wins, Sweden rallying from a second-half deficit to beat South Africa and Italy scoring late to edge Argentina.

A win for either here would virtually guarantee a spot in the second round, something Sweden has achieved seven times in eight previous World Cups. Italy made it to the quarterfinals four years ago in its only other World Cup appearance this century. A draw, on the other hand, would leave both teams’ fates unsettled heading into the group-stage final.

The buzz: Both teams come into this one off losses. South Korea was surprised by Colombia, getting outshot 17-5 and losing 2-0 in its opener.

That leaves it desperately needing a win to get its World Cup back on track. Fortunately, it’s playing Morocco, which was blitzed 6-0 by second-ranked Germany in its first-ever World Cup game.

The Germans didn’t need much in that win, but Morocco provided it anyway, contributing two own goals to blow open a match that was a manageable 2-0 at the half. Given the wide disparity in goal differential in this group, South Korea will really need to pour it on to improve its chances of advancing.

The buzz: Second-ranked Germany, which had lost two of its last three coming into the World Cup, served notice that its pre-tournament malaise is over when it routed Morocco 6-0 in its opener.

Captain Alexandra Popp scored the first two goals on headers, giving her 64 scores in her international, tying her with former teammate Inka Grings for third place on Germany’s all-time list.

Given Germany’s already sizable lead in goal differential, another win here would put it in the second round. A draw, meanwhile, would leave both teams in control of their own fates going into their group-play finals while another one-sided German victory would deal Colombia’s hopes a serious blow.