The 2023 Women’s World Cup is under way! Hosted in Australia and New Zealand, the tournament features 32 of the best footballing nations in the world seeking glory. For every match day, Canada Sports Betting will break down the matches ahead, providing the key odds and story lines you need to make a play, courtesy of our friends at bet365.
Due to the unique schedule of the tournament, we’ll be looking one day forward at a time. Today we’ll be covering July 22nd‘s fixtures. These include:
- Zambia vs. Japan, 3:00 a.m. ET
- England vs. Haiti, 5:30 a.m. ET
- Denmark vs. China, 8:00 a.m. ET
While you wait for the next match day, also consider checking out our Group Previews:
Group A – Group B – Group C – Group D – Group E – Group F – Group G – Group H
5:30 a.m. Featured Match: England vs Haiti
| England Win In Full Time | -5000 |
| Haiti Win in Full Time | +5000 |
| Draw After Full Time | +1800 |
| Over/Under | 2.5 goals (over -700, under +450) |
| Time/Date | Saturday, July 22, 5:30 a.m. ET |
| TV | Broadcast: TSN Stream: TSN GO App |
The big story going into Saturday is undoubtedly the Lionesses, who are among the favourites to claim the 2023 World Cup. Before they can get to the knockouts to prove their worth, though, they need to get through Group D, and while they’re top bet to do so, the games still need to be played.
Their opponent on the other side is Haiti, who are making their first appearance in the tournament, which typically doesn’t bode well for a debut. No nation has won it’s first ever game at this tournament since the inaugural 1991 World Cup – you’re likely going to take your lumps for the first match, and if you’re really lucky, you might pull a draw. But a win? Almost entirely unprecedented.
Haiti, who qualified at the end of the process through inter-confederation playoffs, will be relying on Melchie Dumornay to repeat the magic she displayed with her brace in the qualifying game – she sits at Haiti’s second-shortest odds to score, at +1100. The shortest odds go to Roselord Borgella at +850. Needless to say, there’s not a lot of optimism for their offence to generate a ton against England – the entirety of their roster sits shorter than Haiti’s, with eight players sitting under even. Atop the list are Alessia Russo and Rachel Daly, who are anytime scorers at -275.
In fact, every boosted Same Game Parlay at bet365 is bracing for an England blowout, with only requiring fewer than five England goals: England Goals in Both Halves, Russo to score 2+, and 7+ Corners taken at a boosted +225. That is the level of expectation here.
With that in mind, a prop I’m curious about is the half with the most goals scored. The first sits at +187, the second sits at -120, and an equal total at +375. I wonder about taking the first half for this one – usually you take the second because underdogs can take time to tire out and goal differential can matter in these group stages so teams don’t usually back down, but England is in a particularly strong situation in Group D and might not floor it on a team in their first ever World Cup game.
England to Win in Full Time
3:00 a.m. Match: Zambia vs Japan
| Zambia Win In Full Time | +750 |
| Japan Win in Full Time | -350 |
| Draw After Full Time | +550 |
| Over/Under | 2.5 goals (over -334, under +250) |
| Time/Date | Saturday, July 22, 3:00 a.m. ET |
| TV | Broadcast: TSN Stream: TSN GO App |
Before our marquee game kicks off, we have a Group C where the gap isn’t as wide, but the favourite might have more reason to be aggressive, which could lead to a wide open affair.
For Japan, there will be quite a bit of determination to build up as much momentum as possible, either to try to take a crack at Spain’s expected top seed in the stage, or at least to secure a strong second seed through goal difference, keeping any threat from Costa Rica, you never know, maybe even Zambia at bay. For Zambia, like Haiti above, this will be their first ever World Cup game, a spot that has a bad reputation for being a near-automatic loss for most countries.
Japan being likely to play for goal difference and Zambia likely hoping to exploit the counter could make for some trading of offence. In fact, the prop for Both Teams to Score sits at -163, shorter than usual for a game with a distinct favourite. If you’d like, you can layer it with the result to get better odds – you can combo it with a Japan win at +130, a Zambia win at +1000, or a Draw at +600. If you want to make plays on specific players, Mina Tanaka of Japan (-125 anytime goal) and Barbra Banda for Zambia (+175) are good ones to look at. Tanaka is featured in a few of bet365’s boosted parlays, including one that includes 3 total goals, Tanaka to score, and Japan winning at +180, up from +170.
Japan to Win in Full Time
8:00 a.m. Match: Denmark vs. China
| Denmark Win In Full Time | -143 |
| China Win in Full Time | +375 |
| Draw After Full Time | +280 |
| Over/Under | 2.5 goals (over -106, under -118) |
| Time/Date | Saturday, July 22, 8:00 a.m. ET |
| TV | Broadcast: TSN Stream: TSN GO App |
Lastly, another Group D matchup brings us what is projected to be the closest match of the day, just in time for breakfast. It’s rare for a team that’s returning to the World Cup after extended time off to be favourites against a team that qualified and played into the knockouts the last time around, but that’s the case today. Denmark hasn’t qualified for the tournament since 2007, but were beyond dominant in this cycle’s qualification (8-0-0 with a +38 goal difference), and have shot up to 13th on the global rankings. China sit just behind them in 14th, but don’t carry quite the same momentum into today.
This means the edge is pretty distinctly in Denmark’s favour, but this isn’t as lopsided as most of the matches we’ll see in groups. In fact, the draw at +280 might prove to be good value here if China can show momentum of their own. They did find success in the most recent Asian Cup to draw confidence from, though their form hasn’t been great since. If you’re really confident in them to put up an upset, bet365 is boosting a 2-1 exact score up from +1400 to +1600.
For individual goal scorers, Signe Bruun has the shortest odds for any Denmark player to score, at +105 for a goal, +333 for the first goal, and +500 for a brace (two goals). Just behind her are Pernille Harder (+140 anytime) and Mille Gejl (+175). China’s favourites for goal scorers include Shanshan Wang (+300 anytime, +900 first) and Shuang Wang (+375 anytime).
