With the group stages having drawn to a close in Australia and New Zealand, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 now heads into its Round of 16 stage.
The 32 teams competing at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand were divided into eight groups – Group A to H – for the first phase. In every group, each team faced each other once in a single-headed round robin format and the top two teams from each group qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Round of 16 – the first of the knockout stages.
Reigning champions USWNT, from Group E, only just made the cut for the Round of 16 after drawing two of their group games. Their only win came against Vietnam, before they failed to overcome 2019 finalists Netherlands and 2023 debutants Portugal.
The fate of co-hosts Australia went down to the very last fixture of Group B, after their shock 3-2 loss to Nigeria. An…