For the last two Women’s World Cups, there has only been one team on top: the United States women’s national team.
While the Americans are still heavy favorites heading into this summer’s tournament, many challengers have spent the last four years (and then some) figuring out how to topple the reigning queens.
Can England continue their recent success as Euro 2022 champions and reach the final? Will France avenge their disappointing showing as hosts in 2019 and pull off a surprise run? Or will chaos ensue and treat us to an unpredictable tour?
No one knows exactly how this will all turn out, but we do Sports Illustrated they will stab him anyway. Our finals fixtures may change, but there seems to be a consensus on who will end up victorious in Australia on August 20.
Without further ado, here are our expert picks and predictions for the knockout stages – and which nation will go on to win the 2023 World Cup. As a refresher, here are the groups and how we as a staff picked the places to finish in end game in the group from the previous edition of our magazine (though some chose to change things up a bit in their individual brackets).
FULL BAND PREVIEWS: Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H
Andrew Gastelum
Group winners: A – Norway | B – Australia | C – Spain | D – England | E – USA | F – France | G – Sweden | H – Germany
Group runners-up: A – Switzerland | B – Canada | C – Japan | D – Denmark | E – Netherlands | F – Brazil | G – Italy | H – South Korea
Clare Brennan
Group winners: A – Norway | B – Australia | C – Spain | D – England | E – USA | F – France | G – Sweden | H – Germany
Group runners-up: A – Switzerland | B – Canada | C – Japan | D – Denmark | E – Netherlands | F – Brazil | G – Italy | H – South Korea
Kristen Nelson
Group winners: A – Norway | B – Canada | C – Spain | D – England | E – USA | F – France | G – Sweden | H – Germany
Group runners-up: A – Switzerland | B – Australia | C – Japan | D – Denmark | E – Netherlands | F – Brazil | G – Italy | H – South Korea
