Women’s World Cup Guide: Results, schedule and how to watch
FILE - Team USA celebrates after winning the Women's World Cup soccer final against the Netherlands at the Stade de Lyon in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Sunday, July 7, 2019. The United States will be playing for an unprecedented three-peat at the Women's World Cup this summer.
FILE - United States forward Alex Morgan (13) reacts to scoring a goal during the first half of a SheBelieves Cup soccer match against Brazil Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, in Frisco, Texas. The United States will be playing for an unprecedented three-peat at the Women's World Cup this summer.
FILE - Brazil forward Marta (10) controls the ball during the second half of a SheBelieves Cup women's soccer match against Japan, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in Orlando, Fla. The United States will be playing for an unprecedented three-peat at the Women's World Cup this summer. Among the teams that will challenge the United States are two-time World Cup winners Germany and the 2022 Women's Euro winner, England. Brazil and France could also threaten the perennially dominant Americans.
FILE - France's team captain Wendie Renard, right, touches hands with Selma Bacha at the end of the Women Euro 2022 semifinal soccer match between Germany and France at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes, England, Wednesday, July 27, 2022. The United States will be playing for an unprecedented three-peat at the Women's World Cup this summer. Among the teams that will challenge the United States are two-time World Cup winners Germany and the 2022 Women's Euro winner, England. Brazil and France could also threaten the perennially dominant Americans.
FILE - In this July 7, 2019, file photo, the United States players hold the trophy as they celebrate winning the Women's World Cup final soccer match against The Netherlands at the Stade de Lyon in Decines, outside Lyon, France. The 2023 Women's World Cup will be spread across nine cities in Australia and New Zealand.
The United States started its bid for an unprecedented three-peat at the Women’s World Cup with a 3-0 win over Vietnam. Winning a third straight title won’t be easy for the No. 1 team in the world.
Co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the quadrennial tournament for international soccer’s most coveted trophy kicked off July 20 and features an expanded field of 32 teams, up from 24. There are 64 matches during the tournament.
That means more competition for the two-time defending World Cup champion U.S., which won the 2015 event in Canada and the 2019 tournament in France. The Americans have won four titles overall, most of any nation.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP RESULTS
Cancer survivor Linda Caicedo has scored on her debut at the Women’s World Cup as Colombia beat South Korea 2-0.
Philippines made history at its first Women’s World Cup with its first goal and first win, holding on under pressure to upset co-host New Zealand 1-0. The New Zealanders were coming off their first win in six trips to the Women’s World Cup in the tournament’s opening game.
Goalkeeper Gaelle Thalmann shielded Switzerland to a 0-0 draw against Norway, which played without star striker Ada Hegerberg because of injury.
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP SCHEDULE
Canada knows it can overcome an opening-game draw at the Women’s World Cup because it won gold at the Tokyo Olympics after bouncing back from a draw with Japan in the first game. Now Canada must rebound again following a scoreless draw against Nigeria in its opening World Cup game. The Canadians face Ireland on Wednesday in Perth at 8 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET).
Kicking things off Wednesday Japan plays Costa Rica in Dunedin at 5 p.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) and Spain and Zambia meet in Auckland 7:30 p.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET).
On Thursday, the United States takes on Netherlands in a rematch of the 2019 Women’s World Cup fina l at 1 p.m. local time in Wellington (9 p.m. Wednesday ET). Portugal and Vietnam meet at Hamilton at 7:30 p.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET) and co-host Australia takes on Nigeria i n Brisbane at 8 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET).
HOW TO WATCH THE FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
Fox holds the English-language media rights in the United States for the Women’s World Cup. Telemundo holds the Spanish-language rights.
Fox will broadcast a record 29 matches over the air on its main network and the rest of the games will be aired on FS1. All matches will be streamed on the Fox app.
FIFA struck a collective deal with the European Broadcasting Union in mid-June, ending a standoff with a broadcasters in five major European television markets. The deal guarantees the games will air in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain.
TOP STORIES
Casey Phair becomes the youngest player in soccer World Cup history at the age of 16 years and 26 days. Phair went on as a replacement in South Korea’s 2-0 loss to Colombia in Sydney at the Women’s World Cup on Tuesday. Phair has an American father and a South Korean mother and was raised in the United States.
Sophia Smith flashed the zipping her lips gesture as she celebrated her second goal against Vietnam during the opening United States’ opening match at the Women’s World Cup in tribute to former Stanford teammate Katie Meyer. The goalkeeper died by suicide last year, so Smith and teammate Naomi Girma came up with the tribute.
Youth coach Tarena Ranui is among those leading the charge to change the landscape of soccer in New Zealand. When New Zealand kicked off the Women’s World Cup opener against Norway last week, just three of the 23 Football Ferns traced their roots to the Indigenous Maori people. By contrast, when the Kiwis hosted the Women’s Rugby World Cup last year, more than half of the players on its 30-person championship team were Indigenous.
BETTING GUIDE
The United States is a +240 favorite to win the World Cup, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. After the opening six days of the tournament, Spain is next at +320 followed by England +600 and Germany +700.
There’s also a big group of teams the oddsmakers say have little chance of lifting the trophy, including Jamaica, Vietnam, Zambia, Costa Rica, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Haiti and Panama. All are at +43,000.
AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports