Lionesses boss Sarina is so ‘excited’ by the draw for the World Cup
Sarina Wiegman hailed England’s 2023 Women’s World Cup group after they were drawn alongside Denmark, China and either Senegal, Haiti or Chile.
The European champions’ first Group D match in Australia and New Zealand will be against the winner of an intercontinental play-off, with Chile waiting to play the victor from a clash between Senegal and Haiti to claim a place in the group.
The Lionesses’ matches will take place in Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide, and the head coach is already considering the different playing styles from the nations.
“It’s an exciting group,” the Lionesses manager said. “We know Denmark very well, China are a very good opponent too. They are in transition a little bit, or they were in transition.
“At the Olympics, they were struggling, but they have a new coach and won the Asian Cup.
“We don’t know the other one yet. Three very different opponents, each with a different style of play.”
China were the first team drawn
alongside England, and are the second highest-ranked country in the group, having featured in the last two editions of the tournament, reaching the quarterfinals in 2015.
Denmark were the highest-ranked team in Pot 3, and make a return to the tournament, having not qualified for the previous three editions.
But the England manager remained cautious over her tournament predictions.
“As you could see in the Euros, there are so many good countries now. The game and countries develop so quickly,” Wiegman continued.
“What we saw is that the games are really tight. That’s what I expect from this tournament, too.
“In the group stage, there are some very tight matches.
“However, some will also give a high score because 32 countries come from different levels at different moments of their development.
“The further the tournament comes, the tighter the games will become. That’s exciting too.
“There are many favourites for this World Cup win. So I wouldn’t predict anything. It’s just the same as the Euros. There were so many good teams ,and it’s
very tough. So we’ll see.”
The Republic of Ireland, making their World Cup debut, were drawn into Group B and will play hosts Australia on the opening day of the tournament.
Completing their group are Canada and Nigeria.
The tournament runs from July 20 to August 20 next year – with the Final in Sydney.
The full draw is –
GROUP A – New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland.
GROUP B – Australia, Republic of Ireland, Nigeria, Canada.
GROUP C – Spain, Costa Rica, Zambia, Japan.
GROUP D – England, Group B playoff (Chile, Haiti or Senegal), Denmark, China.
GROUP E – United States, Vietnam, Netherlands, Group A playoff (Cameroon, Portugal or Thailand).
GROUP F – France, Jamaica, Brazil, Group C playoff (Chinese Taipei, Panama, Papua New Guinea or Paraguay).
GROUP G – Sweden, South Africa, Italy, Argentina.
GROUP H – Germany, Morocco, Colombia, South Korea.