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FIFA Women’s World Cup Group E Odds & Preview: Canada’s Christine Sinclair Targets All-Time Goals Record

Ryan Metivier

by Ryan Metivier in Soccer News

Updated Apr 1, 2020 · 9:15 AM PDT

Canada's Christine Sinclair
Canada's Christine Sinclair needs just four goals to break the all-time international goals record for both women and men. Photo By @CanadaSoccerEN (Twitter)
  • The 2019 Women’s World Cup takes place from June 7 – July 7, 2019
  • Group E consists of Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand and Cameroon
  • Odds suggest a tight contest between Netherlands and Canada at the top of Group E

The 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup will run from June 7 – July 7, 2019.

Let’s take a look at the 2019 Women’s World Cup Group E odds for Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand and Cameroon. 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 E Odds

Country FIFA Ranking Odds
Netherlands 8 -145
Canada 5 +170
New Zealand 19 +550
Cameroon 46 +10000

*Odds taken June 3, 2019

Canada

When odds opened, depending where you shop for your odds, would reflect on whether Canada or the Netherlands were favorites to win Group E. Now, with the tournament just days away, Netherlands have settled in as the odds-on favorites.

In an odd quirk to the World Cup grouping, Group E looks remarkably similar to 2015’s Group A, which also featured Canada, Netherlands and New Zealand. The lone difference being Cameroon joins the three this year versus China from 2015.

WWC Group A 2015
2015 Group A standings. Photo: Screenshot from FIFA.com

 

The group was extremely tight back in 2015 and while Canada may have come first, they just barely edged past both China and Netherlands. They scored just two goals in three matches, yet only conceded one. A goal-differential comparable to every team within the group.

In the round of 16, a 1-0 win saw Canada past Switzerland, before they were defeated by England 2-1 in the quarters.

The Canadians qualified for France through a dominating run through the CONCACAF Women’s Championship which saw them fall 2-0 in the finals to USA. However, their lead up to the final was impressive with wins over Jamaica (2-0), Cuba (12-0), Costa Rica (3-1) and Panama (7-0).

2021 CONMEBOL Copa América Odds Tracker
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Canada are bronze medal winners from each of the past two Women’s Olympics. They also won third place in March at the Algarve Cup. Scoring was again at a premium in Canadian matches, as Canada scored just once in three games, while allowing none.

Veteran goalkeeper Erin McLeod and midfielder Diana Matheson will be missing in the Canadian lineup due to injury, which will see Canada lose a combined 321 caps of experience from their lineup.

YouTube video

Though the big talking point will be tracking captain Christine Sinclair’s march towards soccer history.

The 35-year-old will be playing in her fifth World Cup and has amassed a staggering 181 international goals. She is now four goals away from breaking the all-time record for both women and men. American Abby Wambach currently holds the record with 184.

Netherlands

As mentioned above, Netherlands came second in the group stage in 2015, which was the country’s first appearance on the World Cup stage. The round of 16 would be as far as they progressed though with a 2-1 defeat to Japan.

The Oranje Leeuwinen had to take a couple extra steps to qualifying for France as they finished second in their European qualifying group with 19 points behind Norway who had 21. Their 2-1 loss to Norway on the last day of qualifying was their lone defeat. That required them to progress to a playoff round which included 4-1 aggregrate wins over Denmark and Switzerland.

The Netherlands welcomed coach Sarina Wiegman to the team in January of 2017 and she immediately had an impact leading them to the UEFA Women’s Euro title. It was the team’s first major title and Wiegman was named Best FIFA Women’s Coach of the Year.

Lieke Martens also took home Best FIFA Women’s Player of 2017 after the Euros win. She recently played in the Women’s Champions League Final on May 18 with Barcelona. The midfielder had 11 goals with Barca this season.

It was teammate Vivianne Miedema though who led Netherlands with five goals during qualifying. She also had 22 goals this season with Arsenal.

Netherlands look to be prepared to make some noise in France having lost just four times over all competitions dating back to June 13, 2017. The streak has seen them go 25-3-4. They’ve won each of their past three warm-up matches, outscoring opponents 12-0. Saturday saw them defeat Australia 3-0.

New Zealand

The Football Ferns are staples in the World Cup scene as this will be their fifth appearance. Unfortunately they’ve yet to take the next step having never progressed from the group stage. In fact, they’ve also yet to win a match at this level either.

2019 will be their fourth-straight World Cup and they should enter with confidence on their side. New Zealand captured their fourth-straight OFC Women’s Championship to qualify for France. They steamrolled their opponents with five wins and scoring 43 goals, while allowing none.

Even the finals against Fiji saw New Zealand easily coast to an 8-0 win. What that says though, is that the Football Ferns have not exactly faced the stiffest of competition to reach this level.

In fact, in the history of the OFC Championship which began in 1983, only one time have they not finished first or second in 11 editions of the tournament. Furthermore, while a +43 goal-difference is impressive, they were +30 in 2014 and +50 in 2010.

New Zealand are 31-1-7 with a +273 goal-difference in their history in the OFC

Captain Ali Riley has been a fixture for New Zealand having already participated in three World Cups as well as three Olympics.

Overall they are 31-1-7 with a +273 goal-difference in their history in the OFC.

Against stronger opponents they lost 5-0, 2-0 and 2-0 on the road to USA, South Korea and Australia respectively earlier this year. A win over Norway, albeit a friendly, should instil some confidence. In the past month, New Zealand were 2-1 and 1-0 winners over Mexico and England respectively in final warm-up matches.

Cameroon

Cameroon found success during the African Cup of Nations where they topped Group A, but were defeated on penalties to Nigeria in the semifinals. They ended the tournament on a high with a 4-2 win over Mali to take third place an claim their ticket to France.

The Indomitable Lionesses are making their second trip to the World Cup after advancing to the round of 16 in Canada in 2015.

Cameroon will be hoping to duplicate and top their showing from 2015. A 6-0 win over Ecuador and 2-1 win over Switzerland in 2015 were keys to their progression. Though competition in their group looks to be considerably tougher this time around.

Key players include Gaelle Enganamouit, who, though battling fitness concerns, if healthy should have an impact as a former African Women’s Footballer of the Year. Madeleine Ngono Mani is the team’s leading scorer and has been playing internationally since 2002.

Since defeating Mali in November, Cameroon have played just two matches. A 4-0 loss in a friendly to Spain, and a hybrid friendly against club side Levante where they won 4-0.

Group E Prediction

1st: Netherlands

2nd: Canada

3rd: New Zealand

4th: Cameroon

Additional 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Coverage

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