The countdown to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 continues with the opening ceremony set for July 20.
African champions South Africa, Argentina, Italy and Sweden are the teams that complete Group G
Afrosport takes a look at all four teams with the start of the tournament on the horizon.
Argentina – ranked 28th by FIFA
Seven months after their male counterparts went all the way in Qatar, Coach German Portanova is tasked to lead South American ladies to a place in the Women’s World Cup last 16 for first time.
They would also look to right the wrongs of their three previous attempts where they failed to qualify out of their group or even win a match.
The team can build on an impressive Copa America campaign in which a semi-final finish guaranteed them a ticket into this month’s tournament.
Italy – ranked 16th by FIFA
The Italians have a chance at redemption following their below-par performance at UEFA EURO 2022 where they fell short in the last 16 courtesy of a shock 1-0 defeat by Belgium and ultimately ending the championship winless.
Milena Bertolini’s squad will be motivated by recent developments at home where the domestic league for women turned professional while they also made qualification for the World Cup count by topping their group ahead of Switzerland who are ranked 20th in the World and at the expense of Romania, Croatia, Lithuania and Moldova.
They would look to make their fourth appearance worthwhile after first appearing in the inaugural edition in 1991 and then subsequently in 1999 and 2019 when they finished in the quarter-finals for their best result in their tournament.
South Africa – ranked 54th by FIFA
The Banyana Banyana will be buoyed by becoming African champions for the first time as their semi-final appearance at last year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) granted them passage into the global tournament.
The buzz around the team is comprehensible, having won all their six games at WAFCON and recently getting the better of a European team for the first time in five years.
Perhaps, the same confidence could spur them on to creating history as they failed to win any game in the group phase and managed a solitary goal in their single appearance at a World Cup in France 2019.
Sweden – ranked 3rd by FIFA
Eight appearances, one-time runner-up and bronze medalist on three occasions. Surely, the question of every Swede in the Nordic region would be whether 2023 will be the year they rose to the global occasion to become champions.
There isn’t much to suggest they cannot go all the way having claimed another bronze medal at the 2019 UEFA Women Euros in France and a more assertive performance at the Tokyo Olympics where they thrashed world champions USA 3-0 en route to reaching the final.
They won four of their last five games on the back of finishing first in their qualifying group.
