The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is just days away, and we’re coming at you with previews of every group in the tournament, featuring odds from our friends at bet365. In anticipation of that opening match and each to follow, Canada Sports Betting will continue to spotlight each match day’s fixtures with daily previews!
In this preview, we’ll be focusing on Group E. This group features the Global #1 according to FIFA’s world rankings in the United States, followed by the Netherlands (9), Portugal (21), and Vietnam (32).
 | To Win Group | To Qualify | To Not Qualify |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | -275 | -10000 | +2000 |
| Netherlands | +200 | -1600 | +800 |
| Portugal | +5000 | +700 | -1200 |
| Vietnam | +50000 | +10000 | -100000 |
Group E Team Previews
United States
Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Global Goliaths of the Women’s Game. The United States are sitting pretty atop the World Rankings and aren’t afraid to show it off and look determined to win their third consecutive World Cup, a feat not yet done by another country even non-consecutively. The Americans have yet to finish lower than third place in the tournament, but would like to add a fifth trophy to their mantle of 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019.
To ensure this happens, they’ve brought back a lot of the previous squad, including nine players who were on the 2019 roster – Kelley O’Hara, Lindsay Horan, Alex Morgan, Alyssa Naeher, Crystal Dunn, Megan Rapinoe, Julie Ertz, Rose Lavelle, and Emily Sonnett. That experience definitely helps, as does their 8-0 record with a 19-1 goal difference in 2023 to lead into the tournament, but you wonder a bit about a group with 11 players over 30 years old and how they’ll fare with a heavy schedule over the next few weeks. They’re still the clear favourites to win it all, but how sure is a sure thing?
Player to Watch: Megan Rapinoe
Rapinoe claims this spot not necessarily because she’s the team’s current best player, but since we know that this World Cup is one of the significant stops on the last year of her playing career. The all-time great announced her upcoming retirement earlier this month – not surprising to many with the knowledge that this would be the 38-year-old’s last World Cup, but surprising a few with the confirmation that this NWSL season with OL Reign, with whom she’s played with since 2013, will be her last at the club level as well. Rapinoe’s first game of the tournament will be her 200th with the U.S. senior team, with 63 goals, 73 assists, and two World Cups to the forward’s name.
United States to win Group E
Netherlands
The Netherlands come into this tournament with reasonably solid form to build confidence from in 2023, winning three of five friendlies with blowouts in all their victories (Belgium, Poland, Austria) and close calls in both their losses (Germany, Austria). Most importantly, their warm-up game this month saw them defeat Belgium 5-0, giving them reason to feel confident. Helping them as well is that they won’t take on the U.S. right away, instead getting Portugal first.
The Dutch have routinely been near the top of the FIFA global rankings, spending the last five or six years resting somewhere between the No. 3 and No. 7 seeds. They weren’t always this good, however, as they only first qualified for the tournament in 2015, where they won one game before losing in the Round of 16. Their second attempt went much better, as they went 6-0 before losing to the United States in the final in 2019.
Player to Watch: Esmee Brugts
The Dutch might have the game’s next generational talent on it’s hands in Brugts. Just 19 years old, her appearance with the club isn’t the accomplishment here, as it would normally be at her age – no, she’s a key part of a quality team. Brugts joined the senior squad last year after four years at the U15 to U23 levels, and has immediately made an impact, scoring four goals in 15 games including the stoppage-time tally against Iceland which officially punched the Netherlands into this year’s World Cup. The forward/midfielder plays her club soccer for PSV, having already appeared in 50 games since 2020 with a dozen goals to her name.
Netherlands to Advance to Knockout Stage
Portugal
Despite the country’s reputation on the men’s side as a global powerhouse, Portugal’s competitiveness on the women’s circuit is a rather new development. In fact, this year is just their first appearance in the World Cup, as they didn’t attempt to participate in the inaugural 1991 event and failed to qualify in the first six. This time around, though, the team breezed through qualifying, posting 10 wins, a draw, and two losses during the loop. Portugal’s history doesn’t include much on the continental front either, only qualifying for the 2017 and 2022 Euros, and failing to make it out of groups in both. Needless to say, this year is a much different experience for the group.
Heading in, their form can be best described as so-so. Yes, they went on that massive run to qualify for to get here, but in friendlies since April, the squad has won just one of five, drawing two and losing the others. Their most recent tune-up game saw them lose to Norway this past weekend.
Player to Watch: Tatiana Pinto
Pinto has historically not been a heavy scorer for the national team, though this is something that could change in a hurry. The 29-year-old, who has five goals in 100 senior caps and 24 U19 caps for her country, has been showing an increased affinity for finishing in the past few years, particularly with Spanish club Levante, with whom she’s scored 12 goals in 30 games this year, a huge jump from the rest of her career to this point.
The midfielder has impressed to the point where a move to Arsenal is in the cards after the tournament is over. Can the shift from dependable cog in the machine to international difference-maker be made obvious to the world in this tournament?
Portugal to Advance to Knockout Stage
Vietnam
Under most circumstances, the Vietnamese group wouldn’t find themselves with some of the longest odds for success in this tournament. A global rank of 32nd isn’t overly intimidating, but it’s better than quite a few others in this tournament. But, alas, with three other teams ranking from 1 to 21 above them, it’s a very tough challenge.
Vietnam are one of the more successful federations in Asia in recent years, and come to the tournament for the first time in 2023. Their quarterfinal run in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup was enough to send them to the world stage. This year has been mostly good to the team with a 6-win, 1-loss record to start the year through Olympic qualifiers and the Southeast Asian games, but recent friendlies against Germany, New Zealand, and Spain have led to three losses and a combined 13-1 result, giving the a reminder of the difficult road ahead.
Player to Watch: Nguyen Thi Thanh Nha
Thanh Nha represents the future of the national team for Vietnam. Joining domestic team Hà Nội I in 2015 at the age of just 14, Thanh Nha then proceeded to make the U20 national team in 2017, and leapt again to the senior club in 2019, still only 18 years old. She picked up her first two goals in September of 2021, and has added five more to her international account, including four more this calendar year.
Vietnam to Advance to Knockout Stage
Group E Winner Odds
| To Win Group | To Qualify | To Not Qualify |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | -275 | -10000 | +2000 |
| Netherlands | +200 | -1600 | +800 |
| Portugal | +5000 | +700 | -1200 |
| Vietnam | +50000 | +10000 | -100000 |
While the United States do run the risk of tiring out as this tournament unfolds as a result of their veteran group, the same money is still all but certainly on them qualifying, and very likely on them winning the group. Portugal could surprise, but the Netherlands are the overwhelming favourites as the other advancing team.
Group E World Cup Winner Odds
The USWNT have the shortest odds of all teams, and are the favourites to win the 2023 World Cup. Again, I wonder a little here if it holds up, especially if the other heavyweights don’t get upset along the way. A three-peat is a really cool story, for sure, but with the list of over-30 players the Americans have, and the grind these next few weeks will be, it certainly won’t be an easy road. Then again, nothing about this tournament is, right?
