SWEDEN - SOUTH AFRICA

Sweden is between the TOP3 teams in the world (#3 in FIFA Ranking at the moment). Although their league (Damallsvenskan) has been for many years at the top of the UEFA Rankings and now has dropped to sixth place, Sweden is undoubtedly one of the biggest nations in terms of Women football.

They have reached the semi-finals in 4 of the previous 8 editions. They finished third in the 2019 WC and for this year, as Kosovare Asllani said: “We are not the only favourites, but you should never count Sweden out. That’s the dream we’re chasing; we want to win that gold medal – nothing else.” In the previous Eurocup (2022) also reached the semifinals, losing against England who were the winners later.

Sweden has several players in top teams in Europe. They’re strong in each position, with Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius a top-class striker, Barcelona’s Fridolina Rolfo an extremely effective and dangerous wide player and Manchester City’s Filippa Angeldahl a composed presence in midfield. In defence, Magdalena Eriksson and Linda Sembrant have played together for many years, so it’s a very experienced side who know each other well.

The goal difference could be the key to qualify to ⅛ finals, so for sure they’ll try to score as many goals as possible. They’ll just need to score soon to create spaces and generate more chances, because South Africa will try to keep a low-rhythm match and hold the 0:0 as much as possible.

But I’m sure that Sweden will be able to set up the rhythm and pace they want, with fast football and given their quality, will be able to find the net several times here.

On the other hand, South Africa is one of the worst teams in the tournament. Are the current African Champions in 2022, but this will be just their second WC in their history. In the previous one in 2019 they lost all three games, where they just had four shots on target in total. They also had only 17 touches in the opposition box, the fewest for a team during the tournament. They hope to make more of an impact this time, maybe with the help of Thembi Kgatlana of NWSL side Racing Louisville, who scored that goal against Spain in 2019.

Against a physical Sweden side, they must be competitive and adopt a similar physical approach because I think if they sit back and allow the Swedes to attack them, they could get punished. Their aim will be to keep the game 0-0 for as long as possible as said, stifle their opponents and see if they can create any openings on the counter-attack. Forwards Jermaine Seoposenwe, Thembi Kgatlana and Hildah Magaia will be key in that regard.

In this group Sweden is clearly the best team and the matches against South Africa will make the difference for the first positions, because the other rivals (Argentina, Italy) are one step above the Africans.

Quality difference is huge here. The players from South Africa NT aren’t even 100% professionals as their wages aren’t enough to live only from football, while Sweden is along with USA, England and Spain one of the title contenders and best teams in the World.

I’m sure that Sweden will be able to impose their rhythm and start the tournament with a solid victory.

NETHERLANDS - PORTUGAL

Won’t be easy but I'm expecting a victory for the Netherlands here.

In a group shared with the best team in the world and main title contender (the USA), we have just one more spot available to qualify for three teams. And I see Netherlands favorite to do it.

They are the 2019 WC finalists, and they have here an opportunity to revenge after their heartbreak years ago. They’ll miss key player Miedema (ACL injury), but have many other key players.

The Dutch are stacked with an army of stars coming into the World Cup. Forward Lineth Beerensteyn has been a great weapon lately, scoring four goals in the Oranje’s last four matches. Fellow forward Lieke Martens is always leaned on for her experience and finishing abilities, playing her best when she’s allowed freedom on the ball to make decisions in the moment. Most recently, the Paris Saint-Germain player has scored three goals in her last five matches for the Netherlands.

Sherida Spitse is one of few European players with over 200 international caps. The midfielder was the joint-best assist-provider at the 2019 World Cup along with USA’s Sam Mewis. Each of Spitse’s assists came from set-piece situations – twice as many of any other player in that tournament. Jill Roord is expected to be also a key player with the Netherlands, given her quality, good passing and ability to score goals too.

On the other hand, Portugal is one step below and achieved to qualify to the WC pretty luckily.

The path to this year’s tournament was no walk in the park for Portugal. They originally didn’t even qualify for the 2022 Euros, though Russia got banned due to the invasion of Ukraine, and Portugal were invited to join.

They then ended up qualifying for the World Cup at the Inter-Confederation play-offs in February. After seeing their 1-0 lead cancelled out in the 89th minute against Cameroon, Portugal were then awarded a penalty in stoppage time and Carole Costa put away the game-winning goal.

They are ranked 21th in the FIFA Ranking. Portugal are an improving side and recently got a great draw against England when they made a good performance, especially with the ball possession. Because like the Netherlands, they want to play possession-based football, move the ball around and look for openings in the final third of the pitch.

Jessica Silva is their key player, with 100 international caps and 17 goals for Benfica in the 17 games during the 2022/23 season. She also has a teammate - Francisca “Kika” Nazareth, who is the youngest player to earn a cap for Portugal and scored 26 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions at club level.

Portugal is making his debut in a World Cup, so will be lacking experience. They already played two EUROs, but it isn’t the same tournament and the nerves will be high.

Recently, both teams played an official game in the Euro group stage last year (where Portugal ended at the bottom of the group below Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland with just one point). There the Netherlands won 3:2 and I’m expecting the same in this match.

Although Portugal is like a rising star, the Netherlands are already a confirmed star. They have much more experience and quality in my opinion.

瑞典-南非

瑞典是世界排名前三的球队之一(目前国际足联排名第三)。尽管她们的联赛(Damallsvenskan)多年来一直在欧足联排名中名列前茅，现在已经下降到第六位，但瑞典无疑是女子足球方面最大的国家之一。

在过去的8届世界杯中，他们有4次进入半决赛。他们在2019年世界杯上获得第三名，对于今年，正如科索沃阿斯拉尼所说:“我们不是唯一的热门，但你永远不应该把瑞典排除在外。”这就是我们追逐的梦想;我们只想赢得金牌，别无他求。”在之前的欧洲杯上(2022年)也进入了半决赛，输给了后来夺冠的英格兰队。

瑞典有几名球员在欧洲顶级球队效力。他们在每个位置上都很强大，阿森纳的斯蒂娜·布莱克斯坦纽斯是一流的前锋，巴塞罗那的弗里多利娜·罗尔夫是一个非常有效和危险的边路球员，曼城的菲利帕·安格尔达尔是一个稳定的中场。在后防线上，埃里克森和森布兰特已经在一起踢了很多年的球，所以这是一个非常有经验的组合，他们彼此非常了解。

净胜球可能是晋级决赛的关键，所以他们肯定会尽可能多地进球。他们只需要尽快得分来创造空间和创造更多的机会，因为南非将试图保持一场低节奏的比赛，并尽可能地保持0:0。

但我相信瑞典队将能够建立起他们想要的节奏和速度，凭借快速的足球和他们的实力，他们将能够在这里多次破门。

另一方面，南非是本届杯赛中表现最差的球队之一。本届非洲冠军将在2022年举行，但这将是他们历史上的第二次世界杯。在2019年的上一场比赛中，他们输掉了三场比赛，总共只有四次射门。他们在对方禁区内只有17次触球，是本届杯赛中触球次数最少的球队。他们希望这次能产生更大的影响，也许在NWSL球队路易斯维尔竞技队的Thembi kgatana的帮助下，他在2019年对阵西班牙队的比赛中打进了这个球。

面对身体对抗的瑞典队，他们必须有竞争力，采取类似的身体对抗方式，因为我认为如果他们坐视不理，任由瑞典队进攻，他们可能会受到惩罚。他们的目标是尽可能长时间保持0-0的比分，压制对手，看看他们是否能在反击中创造任何机会。前锋杰梅因·塞波森韦、泰姆比·卡加拉纳和希尔达·马加亚将是关键。

在这个小组中，瑞典显然是最好的球队，与南非的比赛将决定第一名的位置，因为其他对手(阿根廷、意大利)比非洲人高出一步。

这里的质量差别很大。来自南非的球员甚至不是100%的职业球员，因为他们的工资不足以仅靠足球生活，而瑞典与美国，英格兰和西班牙一起是世界上最好的冠军争夺者之一。

我相信瑞典队将能够把他们的节奏强加于人，并以一场坚实的胜利开始比赛。

荷兰-葡萄牙

这并不容易，但我期待荷兰队在这里取得胜利。

在与世界上最好的球队和主要冠军争夺者(美国队)共享的小组中，我们只剩下一个名额来获得三支球队的资格。我看到荷兰人最喜欢这样做。

他们是2019年世界杯的决赛选手，在经历了几年前的心碎之后，他们有机会在这里复仇。他们将失去关键球员米德马(前交叉韧带受伤)，但还有许多其他关键球员。

荷兰队拥有一支即将进入世界杯的明星大军。前锋林纳斯·比伦斯泰因最近成为了一个强大的武器，在最近的四场比赛中打进了四球。像马滕斯这样的前锋总是依靠她的经验和射门能力，当她被允许在球上自由地做出决定时，她会发挥出最好的状态。最近，这位巴黎圣日耳曼球员在代表荷兰队的最近五场比赛中打入三球。

谢里达·斯皮策是为数不多的参加过200多场国际比赛的欧洲球员之一。在2019年世界杯上，这位中场球员和美国的萨姆·梅维斯一起获得了最佳助攻。斯皮策的每一次助攻都来自于定位球——是那届比赛中其他球员的两倍。吉尔·鲁德(Jill Roord)也有望成为荷兰队的关键球员，因为她的素质、传球能力和进球能力都很好

另一方面，葡萄牙比他们低了一步，很幸运地晋级了世界杯。

对葡萄牙来说，今年的世界杯之路可不是在公园里散步。他们最初甚至没有获得2022年欧洲杯的资格，尽管俄罗斯因入侵乌克兰而被禁止参赛，葡萄牙被邀请加入。

他们最终在2月份的国际足联附加赛中获得了世界杯的资格。在对阵喀麦隆的比赛中，葡萄牙1-0的领先优势在第89分钟被取消，随后在补时阶段被判点球，卡罗尔·科斯塔打进绝杀球。

他们在国际足联排名中排名第21位。葡萄牙是一支不断进步的球队，最近他们在对阵英格兰的比赛中表现出色，特别是在控球方面。因为就像荷兰队一样，他们想要以控球为基础的足球，在球场的最后三分之一寻找机会。

杰西卡·席尔瓦是他们的关键球员，在2022/23赛季的17场比赛中为本菲卡出场100次并打进17球。她还有一个队友——弗朗西斯卡·“基卡”·拿撒勒，他是代表葡萄牙出场的最年轻的球员，在俱乐部的各项赛事中出场36次，打进26球。

这是葡萄牙队首次参加世界杯，因此缺乏经验。他们已经打了两场欧洲杯，但这不是同一场比赛，他们的神经会很紧张。

最近，两支球队在去年的欧洲杯小组赛中进行了一场正式比赛(葡萄牙队在小组赛中仅以1分落后于荷兰、瑞典和瑞士，垫底)。荷兰队在那场比赛中以3:2获胜，我希望这场比赛也能如此。

虽然葡萄牙就像一颗冉冉升起的新星，但荷兰队已经是一颗确定的明星。我认为他们有更多的经验和素质。