Team Canada faces Nigeria tonight in their first group stage match at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, where they hope to build on their gold-medal finish at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago.
The month-long tournament, hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand, officially began early this morning when the two host nations played their first games of the group stage.
Canada, ranked seventh in the world, has never medaled at a World Cup, but has done so three straight times at the Olympic Games.
The team will try to flip the script this year, in what will likely be legendary Canadian captain Christine Sinclair’s last tournament.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Women’s World Cup format
Canada is in a group with co-host Australia, ranked 10th in the world, 22nd-ranked Ireland, and tonight’s opponent, the 40th-ranked Nigeria.
The Canadians will play each member of their group once, and the two teams with the best record in each group will then advance to the knockout stages.
Canada advanced out of the group stage at the last World Cup in France in 2019, but was immediately beaten in the round of 16 by Sweden, who went on to finish third.
Canada’s best-ever result at the World Cup came in 2003, when they finished fourth. It was Sinclair’s first time participating in the tournament.
Now, about to play in her sixth, she says the emotions are familiar.
"Honestly it's like the same as my first World Cup," Sinclair told reporters yesterday. "I just got to check out the pitch. I still get those nerves, those butterflies, that excitement as I did back in 2003 in my first one.”
"This is why you play. This is why you spend all those hours, days, training when no one is for moments like today, tomorrow. Knowing that you're ready to go and can't wait to represent Canada."
Women’s World Cup favourites
The heavy favourites to win the World Cup this year are the Americans, ranked first in the world and coming off two straight World Cup titles.
The good news for the rest of the tournament is that no team has ever won three straight.
The bad news is that the U.S. is undoubtedly the world’s premier women’s soccer program, having participated in all eight World Cup tournaments that have been held so far, winning four of them, and never finishing lower than third.
The only other team with more than one World Cup title is Germany. They are currently ranked second in the world behind the U.S., and are another tournament favourite.
Powerhouses Sweden and England are also top-five ranked nations globally, each looking for their first ever World Cup crown.
Canada, with their mix of veteran experience and youthful talent, is on the short list of favourites as well, and comes into the tournament with some added swagger as defending Olympic champions.
But Sinclair says the team is still largely overlooked, and they’re ready to prove the world wrong once again.
“As (coach) Bev (Priestman) said, around the world, we're still overlooked. Which is fine by us. We were overlooked heading into Tokyo and we showed the word what we're capable of. I think all it has done is helped us as players, helped us as a team, feel that confidence, know that we can beat any team in the world. It's just fuelled us,” she said.
"Once you experience that victory, you just want to do it again. So it's just motivated us to once again prove to the world what we're capable of."
How to watch the Women’s World Cup, players to look out for
There are two distinct groups of players to watch at this World Cup: Veteran superstars and talented youngsters.
Sinclair leads a group of veterans that includes Brazil's Marta, Australia's Sam Kerr, France's Wendie Renard and American Alex Morgan.
Megan Rapinoe, set to appear in her fourth World Cup, says that this one will be her last. The 38-year-old forward for the United States plans to retire from soccer at the end of this year.
Young stars include 22-year-old U.S. forward Sophia Smith, 21-year-old Jody Brown of Jamaica and 19-year-old Melchie Dumornay of Haiti. American-born Casey Phair, 16, was named to South Korea's squad.
Smith doubled up last year as both the U.S. Soccer Player of the Year and the National Women's Soccer League's Most Valuable Player. She’s also club teammates with Sinclair on the Portland Thorns.
Canada is set to face off against Nigeria at 10:30 p.m. ET tonight at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Australia. Canada’s next match isn’t until Wednesday, when they face Ireland, bright and early, at 8 a.m. ET.
You can watch every game of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup live on TSN, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.
With files from the Canadian Press and the Associated Press
