The draw for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is in and it has not been kind to the Matildas.

The Matildas have been drawn into Group B alongside Ireland, Canada and Nigeria, close to the worst-possible result from the draw and described by Heather Garriock as the “Group of Death”.

Canada is the reigning Olympic champions and recently beat the Matildas in back-to-back games last month down under despite an understrength squad. They are the highest-ranked opponent (seventh) Australia could have drawn from their pot.

The Republic of Ireland were the third-highest ranked team in their pot (24th), but beat the Matildas last year.

The final opponent, Nigeria, were the highest-ranked team in their pot (45th), are the most successful team in African history, having won the last three Africa Women’s Cup of Nations titles before losing it this year.

“Obviously the teams are tough,” Matildas and Arsenal star Steph Catley told Optus Sport.

“Ireland is tricky, we just watched them in a few playoff games and they played really well, defended really well. Canada just won the Olympics and Nigeria has some incredible players too and African teams are really tough to play at major tournaments.

“It’s a tough group but if you want to win, you’ve got to beat everyone. I think obviously Canada is really tough. We played them recently.

“We didn’t have a full squad but they have great players who play in some of the best leagues in the world. That’s one we’ll definitely look at early in terms of our preparation.”

Looking past the group stage, the Matildas have also copped a tough road to glory on home soil.

If the Matildas finish first in Group B, they will face the runner-up from Group D. If the Matildas finish second in Group B, they will face the winner from that group. But Group D includes two brutal possible opponents in England and Denmark.

Australia will host the showpiece tournament alongside New Zealand, where the official draw took place in Auckland with hundreds of famous faces including Kiwi Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

New Zealand will host the opening match of the tournament, against heavyweights Norway. The, on July 20 at Sydney Football Stadium, the Matildas will face Republic of Ireland in their first match.

In other notable matches, two-time reigning champions the USA have been drawn against the Netherlands in a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final.

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 Play-off winner

Denmark

China

Group E

USA

Vietnam

Netherlands

Group A Play-off winner


Group F

France

Jamaica

Brazil

Group C Play-off Winner


Group G

Sweden

South Africa

Italy

Argentina

Group H

Germany

Morocco

Colombia

Korea Republic

MATILDAS(Australia) FIXTURES

Australia vs Republic of Ireland, Sydney Football Stadium, July 20, 2023

Australia vs Nigeria, Brisbane Stadium, July 27, 2023

Canada vs Australia, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, July 31, 2023

Performers take part in the opening of the football draw ceremony for the Australia and New Zealand 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup at the Aotea Centre in Auckland on October 22, 2022.

First off, there are 32 teams in the World Cup for the first time, who will be drawn out of four ‘pots’ based on FIFA rankings to create the four-team groups.

The elimination tournament is divided into three groups:

Group A: Cameroon, Thailand, Portugal

Group B: Senegal, Haiti, Chile

Group C: Chinese Taipei, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, Panama

Each of those groups will be represented by a placeholder in pot four in today’s draw, meaning those sides will know their World Cup destiny should they qualify.

To make things a little more complex (and since the winners of the groups haven’t been decided yet), FIFA will treat Group A’s placeholder as a European team, Group B as a South American Team, and Group C as an Asian/Oceanian team.

That just means that the Matildas and NZ can’t be drawn with the Group C winner.

FULL POTS

Pot one: New Zealand (FIFA ranking 22), Australia (13), United States (1), Sweden (2), Germany (3), England (4), France (5), Spain (6)

Pot two: Canada (7), Netherlands [8],
Brazil (9), Japan (11), Norway (12), Italy (14), China (15), South Korea (17)

Pot three: Denmark (18), Switzerland (21), Republic of Ireland (24), Colombia (27), Argentina (29), Vietnam (34), Costa Rica (37), Jamaica (43)

Pot four: Nigeria (45), Philippines (53), South Africa (54), Morocco (76), Zambia (81), playoff Group A winners (Cameroon, Thailand or Portugal), playoff Group B winners (Senegal, Haiti or Chile), playoff Group C winners (Chinese Taipei, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea or Panama)

[url=https://www-foxsports-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.foxsports.com.au/football/womens-world-cup-2023-matildas-draw-pots-live-explainer-fixtures-stream-how-to-watch/news-story/772db2916dc69d113fa429a1ddf45c64?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16664281607048&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxsports.com.au%2Ffootball%2Fwomens-world-cup-2023-matildas-draw-pots-live-explainer-fixtures-stream-how-to-watch%2Fnews-story%2F772db2916dc69d113fa429a1ddf45c64]SOURCE[/url]

Good one, Let Buhari not call them on phone this time

I'm always OBIdient and Yusuful

Group B

Australia

Republic of Ireland

Nigeria

Canada

We will come out Tops on this group (hopefully, or second after Canada), and then we go ahead to lift the Women's World Cup for the First time in history.

GO Super Falcons.

God bless Nigeria.

We only have hope in our young falconets and Super Falcons now.

The men are nothing but a bunch of disgrace.
Dem just dey vex us since Ghana knocked out of the World Cup starting in few weeks from now. Shame!

Winning betting these days I've noticed is about playing few
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.

Best of luck.
But I no dey put high hopes on Naija except in the age-group cadre.

hmm

That Nigeria group is arguably the toughest in that tournament,wish them well

Ok

Super falcons no deh in form, but I hope Dem go come out side for group stage

We should channel more money to female football instead of the men.
The females are doing us proud.

The super eagles cannot even eat common "Ghana bread"

toobusy:
That Nigeria group is arguably the toughest in that tournament,wish them well

We will scale it through.

Thanks for the good wishes

Nigeria and Canada to qualify.

Offpointng:
Winning betting these days I've noticed is about playing few
games and if possible just one and a sure one. here's an
opportunity to make 50 - 80,100k every weekend on a single
game (one single game) with an 100k investment and
5-8,10k on a 10k investment


I'll be giving a free two trial. you can use 1k for a start.
Sportybet to be precise. if you're in lemme add you to a my
whatsapp group

I'm in..

Just look at the vulture merchant wishing Nigeria well yet supporting lunacy at all levels of government, spits on his round head.

The Nigerian women football are doing us proud wish them all the best

Ok

At least, we should come 2nd in that group. Our girls are ballers, I know they will do us proud.




5:30 we go nack pesin wotowoto �

phurlar:

I'm in..

Drop WhatsApp digit

If they want to qualify they should avoid Buhari, they should learn from Anthony Joshua after meeting Buhari he has been beaten back to back. A word is a enough for the wise

Fira09,ghettokid1,Lamasta,Pells,yellowgarri2,fergie001 and other nairalanders do you know how these group draws are made

What many pple dnt knw is that Nigeria is the most decorated country in the world within FIFA competitions....check out our numbers in trophies e.g U-17, U-20, U-23 plus 2nd and 3rd places(male & female alike).

Please let them mix the girls up form U-17 u-20 and national team so that they can come out of the group please the old Mama's in super falcons should reiter good luck to the girls

Nigeria will survive

TinubuPikin:
Nigeria ti lule

Nigeria ti lule

Nigeria placed on the group of death nawa O!

Na Canada abi na Australia Nigeria go win? Dem go give us wotowoto but hopefully we'll get a draw against Ireland.

obembet:
Nigeria will survive

When last did you watch Canada women their match

And for your mind, Australia and Ireland are minnows abi