Vietnam in tough group with US at 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
This is considered a hard row to hoe for Vietnam, which are currently 34th on the world ranking and will be playing in the World Cup for the first time. The U.S. are the defending and four-time champions in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019 and the number one team on the world ranking, while the Netherlands are eighth. The final team of Group E will be either Thailand, Cameroon and Portugal. Vietnam are one of the six qualified teams in Asia, besides China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and hosts Australia. The month-long competition will kick off on July 20, 2023 in Australia and New Zealand – the first co-hosts in the history of the Women’s World Cup. Vietnam’s first game will be against the U.S. in Auckland and also be Group E’s opener. Next summer’s World Cup will be the largest women’s sporting event in history with 32 countries, up eight from the previous tournament and double the number in 2011. Twenty-nine teams have already qualified, with Morocco, the Philipp...