Paris (AFP) – The pressure is on France as they kick off the Women’s World Cup against South Korea on June 7, but while the Koreans, Norwegians and Nigerians are all potentially tricky opponents for the hosts, the format of the group stage leaves them some room to manoeuvre.
The first round will eliminate just eight teams of the 24 teams, with the top two finishers in each of the six groups advancing along with four best third-place teams.
Here AFP, looks at the contenders in groups A, B and C:
Group A
France (World Ranking: Number 4), Norway (No. 12), South Korea (No. 14), Nigeria (No. 38)
Hosts France start as one of the tournament favourites, as the backbone of the starting XI play for Lyon, the dominant team in European club football. Sarah Bouhaddi is described by team-mates as “the best goalkeeper in the world”, central defender Wendie Renard captains Lyon while defensive midfielder Amandine Henri captains France. Striker Eugenie Le Sommer has scored 74 goals for the national team.
Further improving their chances is the absence of their star team-mate Ada Hegerberg, who is boycotting a Norway team that should still have enough to advance from the group.
South Korea took the fifth and last Asian World Cup berth in a playoff, but they qualified without conceding a goal.
Nigeria meanwhile are the only African team to have ever made it as far as the quarter-finals, back in 1999, and coach Thomas Dennerby has set that as a target.
“I hope we can get to the quarter-finals and from there anything can happen,” the Swede said.
Key match: France v Norway. The noveau riche French face one of the women’s games old aristocrats.
Group B
Germany (No.2), Spain (No. 13), China (No. 16), South Africa (No. 49)
Germany remain number 2 in the world and are unbeaten since losing to France in last year’s SheBelieves Cup. They will be tough to beat and coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg is aware of what a good chance this is for her team.
“I am convinced that with this team, we are well set for the World Cup,” said the confident coach.
Barcelona may have been thrashed by Lyon in the Champions League final, but they were the first Spanish club to get that far and their improvement coincides with Spain’s rise in the FIFA rankings. Moreover, they do not have a single player over the age of 29.
Despite president Xi Jinping’s declared dream that China will win the World Cup, the women’s team have slipped back from 1999 when Sun Wen led the Steel Roses to the final with 10 goals and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
from World Soccer Talk http://bit.ly/2EKWDID
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