New Zealand in front of a home crowd, Norway with Hegerberg

New Zealand, the host country with Australia, attack”HaWomen’s World Cup through a summit against Group A favourites, Ada Hegerberg’s Norway, before more affordable duels against the Philippines and Switzerland. the “Fern footballNew Zealand’s title team, Oceania’s first World Cup kicked off on July 20 at 07:00 (GMT), in front of their supporters at Auckland’s Eden Park, the legendary Temple of the Oval.

The support of the crowd will not be too much for those hoping to face the Norwegian fleet, twelfth in the FIFA rankings, led by Caroline Graham Hansen and symbolic Ada Hegerberg, the first winner of the Women’s Ballon d’Or in 2018.We must be ambitious but also realistic. Our recent results haven’t been very good. We want to show a better image of Norway’, gushed the OL’s star forward, who returned from injury during the season.

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The Scandinavians start out as the best players

In the first round, in any case, the Scandinavian national team will be favorites against New Zealand players who have never managed to pass the first round of the World Cup. Their best result was in 2012 at the London Olympics, when they reached the quarter-finals. New Zealand coach Jitka Klimkova has made the surprising decision not to call up the squad’s biggest defender, Mikaela Moore, who recently won the Scottish Premier League title with Glasgow.

“I have absolute faith that they will give their all for our team and our country in Julythe technician said recently, adding:I think we’ve found a good balance of youth and experience within the squad, between the 10 players who have debuted and the other members of the group who have participated in several Women’s World Cups.“.

The Swiss, led by Paris Saint-Germain striker Ramona Bachmann, will be able to shatter the ambitions of the host country if they manage to win one of the first two qualifying spots in the round of 16.