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FIFA Women’s World Cup Group F Odds & Prediction: USWNT, Sweden Expected to Advance to Knockout Round

Ryan Metivier

by Ryan Metivier in Soccer News

Updated Mar 30, 2020 · 12:04 PM PDT

USWNT
The USWNT enter the WWC as favorites to win Group F over Sweden, Chile and Thailand. Photo By @USWNT (Twitter)
  • The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup begins Friday, June 7, 2019
  • Group F consists of USA, Sweden, Chile and Thailand
  • The USWNT are strong favorites to win Group F and make a deep run at the WWC

With the 2019 Women’s World Cup (WWC) kicking off this Friday and concluding with the final on July 7, we preview Women’s World Cup Group F odds for each of USA, Sweden, Chile and Thailand.

The top two teams from each group, plus the four best third place teams overall will advance to the knockout round.

Women’s World Cup Group F Odds

Country FIFA Ranking Odds to Win Group F
USA 1 -1000
Sweden 9 +600
Chile 39 +1400
Thailand 34 +25000

*Odds taken June 4, 2019

USA

2015 champions and favorites to repeat this summer, USA are unsurprisingly also odds-on favorites to win Group F at this summer’s Women’s World Cup.

Pound-for-pound the US simply have more talent than most, maybe any other side in the tournament. Participants in each of the past seven World Cups, their worst finish has been third place (1995, 2003, 2007). They were runners-up in 2011, and have been crowned champions in each of the remaining three tournaments (1991, 1999 and 2015).

In the history of the tournament they own a combined record of 33-6-4, with 112 goals scored compared to just 35 allowed. Returning from the 2015 title-winning side is head coach Jill Ellis who won the FIFA Women’s World Coach of the Year with the team.

Ellis has continued to oversee success with Team USA ever since. Though USA could only reach the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics, the team went undefeated throughout the entirety of 2018.

That run included a flawless performance through qualifying at the CONCACAF Championship as they went 5-0-0 on their way to defeating Canada 2-0 in the finals. Overall they outscored Mexico, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Canada by a combined 26-0.

USWNT have lost just once, a friendly to France, at the SheBelieves Cup in January, over their past 38 matches in all competitions.

The USWNT have lost just once over their past 38 matches in all competitions.

That’s ridiculous. And the winning will likely continue this summer featuring a group with two sides ranked outside the top 30. But while USA have been steamrolling their opponents of late, if you’re trying to poke holes in their title defense aspirations, you could look to some (not all), of their results against stronger opposition.

First, playing many games against opponents in the Western Hemisphere, include just two other nations ranking inside the top 25 – those being Canada and Brazil.

Looking at the just nine draws or defeats which they have sustained since 2017, you’ll see they have all come against teams participating this summer. Team USA have seen draws to Canada, France, Australia, Japan and England. While they’ve suffered defeats to England, Australia and France (twice).

Against ninth-ranked Sweden, USA won 1-0 in 2017 in a friendly, but lost to the Swedes in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics on penalties.

2021 CONMEBOL Copa América Odds Tracker
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The Americans will return several veterans to France including Alex Morgan, Carli Loyd, Tobin Heath, Julie Ertz and Megan Rapinoe.

Morgan led USWNT with seven goals during CONCACAF qualifying. She had 18 goals in 19 matches throughout 2019 and was named the team’s Player of the Year. In all, 12 players from 2015’s World Cup squad have been named to this year’s roster.

Sweden

The Swedes have qualified for each WWC but have yet to go the distance. They reached the round of 16 in Canada where they lost 4-1 to Germany. They were third place finishers in 2011, which matched their result in 1991 as their best-finish.

The Swedes qualified for France as first place finishers in Group D of the European qualifiers. They were 7-0-1 with 22 goals scored and just two conceded. Scoring was spread throughout their roster with no Swede among the top 15 in scoring.

In 2016, Sweden were critized for “parking the bus” against the Americans by ex-US goalkeeper Hope Solo, when the Swedes beat USA on penalties in the quarterfinals. They would go on to lose 2-1 to Germany in the final.

In March, they lost in the bronze medal match to Canada. Sweden’s three warm-up matches since, have seen them go 2-0-1, with a loss to Germany (2-1) and wins over Austria (2-0) and South Korea (1-0).

Group F looks like Sweden and USA’s to lose. Thing is, losing may actually be more advantageous as the second place finisher would move to the right side of the bracket and avoid a potential quarterfinals match with France.

For Sweden and USA, they will be well-familiar with each other having now met in the group stage during six of the eight Women’s World Cups. In 2015 they drew 0-0 in the group stage.

Another draw could be in the cards on June 20, but I’ll give the edge to USA to come out on top of Group F overall.

Chile

Making their first World Cup appearance are the Chileans, who gained qualification as the second-place finishers in the 2018 Copa América Femenina.

Chile finished 2-2-0 in second behind Colombia in the first round of qualifiers, prior to a 1-1-1 record in the second round. Their four points were five behind Brazil’s nine, and just above Argentina’s three and Colombia’s one.

Chile’s standout player is likely goalkeeper Christiane Endler. Endler, is the team captain and is a six-time national player of the year. She plays her club soccer for PSG. During qualifying it was Yanara Aedo who led the team in scoring with four goals.

While the Chilean men’s program is well-established, women’s soccer in Chile is still only played on an amateur level. In fact the national team didn’t even play a game from 2014 until May of 2017.

Since earning their WWC ticket, Chile’s results have suffered. In 16 matches since, they’ve won just three times. None of those wins have come since a 3-2 friendly win over Australia last November. They closed out 2018 with a rematch with the Matildas, falling 5-0 and haven’t won since.

In 2019, they are 0-2-6 with losses to fellow World Cup sides Italy, Jamaica (twice) Netherlands (7-0) and Germany. They did manage a 1-1 draw to Scotland, who’s also debuting in the tournament.

Getting any sort of result against either USA or Sweden would be a huge upset for either of those two nations. Chile advancing from Group F is highly unlikely and their slim chances will come down to their result against Thailand and possibly advancing as a third place side. However, we’ll give the ever-so-slight advantage to Thailand who have the edge in experience.

Thailand

Thailand is not known for their women’s soccer program as a women’s professional league was only started in 2017. Though the Chaba Kaew did qualify for Canada 2015 in their maiden trip to the World Cup stage.

Their, despite failing to advance from the group stage, they did gain their country’s first win, a 3-0 victory over Ivory Coast. That was the only match where the team found the scoresheet.

The Chaba Kaew qualified for Canada 2015 in their maiden trip to the World Cup stage.

To qualify for France, Thailand required a fourth place finish at the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup. Thailand suffered a heavy 4-0 loss to China in the tournament, before victories over Jordan and the Philippines saw them face Australia in the semifinals.

Though they fought valiantly, the were defeated on penalties by the Matildas. Another loss to China in the third-place match followed.

Holding firm with the likes Australia will surely instil some confidence. After sealing their ticket to the World Cup, Thailand went on a streak of nine matches undefeated, where they won eight times. While many of these were friendlies against lower-ranked sides, they defeated Australia twice at the AFF Women’s Championship last summer.

But that is where their success ended. Beginning in August of 2018, Thailand are 1-0-11. The losses are piling up to both World Cup sides and non-World Cup sides alike. In 2019, they began with a 4-0 win to Hungary, but have since lost to Mexico, Italy, Nigeria, France and Belgium.

The Chaba Kaew will be hard-pressed to see much success in France and will rely on getting a strong result against Chile to possibly advance as a third place side.

Group F Prediction

1st: USA

2nd: Sweden

3rd: Thailand

4th: Chile

Additional 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Coverage

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