The United States will play for an unprecedented three-point win at the Women’s World Cup this summer. It won’t be easy for the world No. 1.
The four-yearly tournament for international football’s most coveted trophy, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, begins on July 20 and features an expanded field of 32 participants instead of 24. A total of 64 games will take place during the tournament.
That means more competition for the two-time reigning world champion USA won the 2015 event in Canada and the Tournament 2019 in France. The Americans have won four titles in total, the most of any nation.
How to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup
Fox owns the US English language media rights for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Telemundo owns the Spanish language rights.
Fox will broadcast a record 29 games over its main network and the remaining games will be broadcast on FS1. All games are streamed on the Fox app.
what is the schedule
The 32 teams will be divided into eight groups of four teams each. Each team will play a three-game home and away group stage from July 20th to August 3rd.
The first-place winners advance to the round of 16 from August 5th to 8th. The quarter-finals will take place on August 11-12 and the two semi-finals will be played on August 15-16. A third-place match is scheduled for August 19 in Brisbane before the final.
The finale will air August 20 at 6 p.m. ET in the United States.
The broadcast schedule is complicated by the time difference. The United States play in Group E with Vietnam, the Netherlands and Portugal. The opening game will take place in Auckland on July 22 against Vietnam and will be broadcast on July 21 at 9pm ET due to the US time difference.
A rematch of the 2019 final against the Netherlands is scheduled for July 27 in Wellington and will air July 26 at 9pm ET in the US. The final group game against Portugal is scheduled for August 1st and will air the same day at 3pm ET.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
There are two distinct groups of players to watch at this World Cup: veteran superstars and talented young players.
Canadian Christine Sinclair leads a group of veterans that includes Brazilian Marta, Australian Sam Kerr, French Wendie Renard and American Alex Morgan.
Sinclair, who is 38 and likely to be in her last World Cup, is the all-time leading scorer in international football with 190 goals, both for women and men.
The young stars include 22-year-old US forward Sophia Smith, 21-year-old Jody Brown from Jamaica and 19-year-old Melchie Dumornay from Haiti.
Smith was named both the US Soccer Player of the Year and the National Women’s Soccer League Most Valuable Player last year.
Betting Guide
As a result, the United States is the favorite to win the World Cup with over 270% FanDuel Sportsbook. Next is England at +340, followed by Spain at +650.
There’s also a large group of teams that odds makers say have little chance of lifting the trophy, including Jamaica, Vietnam, Argentina, Zambia, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Morocco, the Philippines, South Africa, Haiti and Panama. All are at +43,000 – but if any of them happen to emerge as a Cinderella winner, the payout would be great.
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