Friday Ramble: Who wants to win the World Cup?!

The April international break offered few answers as to the potential destination of the World Cup trophy.

Co-hosts Australia enjoyed a good international break. Image: Paul Terry / Sportimage

That was a strange international break, the last before many nations will announce their squads for this summer's World Cup. There has always been a feeling in the last few tournaments the USA would rock up and win - which they did - but the rest of the world is closing in, though nobody set their stall out as an outright favourite during an April camp which saw many of the top nations underwhelm.

All comes with their various caveats. A) they're friendly matches. B) A lot of nations are carrying key injuries, but it does at least seem, one way or another, this will be the most competitive World Cup yet.

USA, as the defending champions and still number one team in the world, won both their games this month, but didn't look overly imposing in two 2-0 and 1-0 wins respectively against Republic of Ireland. There was one major positive and one major negative for Vlatko Andonovski's side as Julie Ertz returned from a long-term injury, but Mallory Swanson looks like she will miss the tournament after suffering a torn patella tendon in the first game.

So, what about their main challengers? Going in order of FIFA ranking, none of Sweden, Germany or England won both their games this month, and none looked overly convincing. Sweden lost 1-0 to Denmark and drew 3-3 with Norway, while Germany beat Netherlands 1-0 but lost 2-1 at home to Brazil, trailing 2-0 for a majority of the game as they said goodbye to legendary midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsán who was playing her last game for the national team.

England were also missing a few key players in their defeat to Australia, their first under Sarina Wiegman, while they were seconds from a win against Brazil, despite an underwhelming second half which saw Brazil pile the pressure on. England did eventually win the first women's Finalissima on penalties, but it was certainly one of Wiegman's tougher camps in charge.

Below that, France and Spain will be pleased with their camps as the only top seeded sides to win both games this month. France were in their first camp under new head coach Hervé Renard and it was a tricky start as they trailed 2-0 at home to Colombia at one point, but ended the match winning 5-2, with the returning Eugénie Le Sommer on the scoresheet, while Wendie Renard also returned.

They followed that up with a 2-1 win over a depleted Canada, but a new-look, happy and smiling France side will be dangerous this summer, rejuvenated on and off the pitch under their new coach and with Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto still to return.

Spain are also ticking along nicely despite still missing 15 players. Turmoil off the pitch isn't being matched by results on it as Jorge Vilda's side scored seven goals in 4-2 and 3-0 wins against Norway and China respectively.

With Jenni Hermoso back firing in attack, she was complemented by goals from the likes of Athenea del Castillo, Alba Redondo and Salma Paralluelo as Spain still manage to put out a frightening attack despite missing so many players.

Co-hosts Australia and New Zealand are somewhat out of place as top seeds, though Australia are certainly playing like one. They rested key players in their surprise 1-0 defeat to Scotland, but were back on-song against the Lionesses, backing up recent wins against Sweden and Spain. Tony Gustavsson's side look dangerous heading into a home World Cup, they can't be ruled out?

New Zealand on the other hand continued a bad run of form which has seen the other co-hosts not win a game since September. Jitka Klimková's side did stop their losing run with a 1-1 draw with Iceland, but came back down to earth with a 3-0 defeat against Nigeria. At the moment, it looks like being a tough tournament for New Zealand.

The winner of the tournament will still very likely come from this pool, but if it doesn't, who might spoil the party? Canada is the top ranked nation in the second seeds, but their camp is hard to judge given they were missing half a dozen key players through injury. Bev Priestman's side only played one game, the defeat to France, and you'd never rule out a side usually so solid in major tournaments.

Netherlands are still finding their feet under Andries Jonker, but their narrow loss to Euro 2022 finalists Germany and a convincing 4-1 win over Poland offers some hope, but it was Brazil who had the best camp, taking England to penalties and beating Germany, in Germany. Against the two European finalists, Pia Sundhage's side put in two convincing performances and could be potential dark horses.

Japan and Norway had so-so camps, with Japan losing to Denmark and narrowly beating Portugal, while Norway will be encouraged by the threat they held in a 3-3 draw vs Sweden, but leaked seven goals across their two games, with neither side overly looking like competing for the title.

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Answering your Questions

Natalie - This week we have seen a journalist leave SM for doing job and national team speak out against tweets. Has women's football not placed itself in this position by going for audience of young kids and teenagers only??

Possibly, but I think the wider authorities aren’t overly bothered about social media as long as they’re attractive new fans, certainly fans for the future. It’s a tough one and everyone has their own experiences of social media, and it’s likely a minority spoiling it for everyone else.

It has got worse though. To see the Australia Federation and Beth Mead’s dad speak out against social media shouldn’t have to happen, but it might be necessary to alert people to how sustained the issue has become.

Women's football seems to be in celebrity stage where people are only attending games for Lionesses players and massive signs asking for a selfie an shirt... Some in women's football still seem adverse to treat it like football with rivalry etc between clubs.... Surely we cant just ride 23 players coattails. What is a solution?

I think with this one it’s more of a balance, but I do believe it will die down given we are still less than 12 months on from the Euros. That stardom stays, but it also fades over time as people move on and other tournaments come around the corner. I’ve no issue with kids taking signs, but there will have to be an appreciation players can’t and won’t fulfil every request asked of them. Everyone has their own motivations for why they are following this sport and as long as it stays respectful and each side understands and appreciates the other, I think everyone can get on with things.

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Any Other Business

I went back on the Only One United podcast this week alongside football agent Reece Land to discuss Manchester United’s season so far, and various other issues in the women’s game.

Link

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What you missed and what comes next?

A different week this week with the international break still taking precedent on the site, but our story about Australia’s Anna Senjuschenko is already one of the most read on WFC so far.

My interview with Chelsea Ashurst, the English goalkeeper making a career for herself in Spain, also went live this afternoon.

I also looked at what went wrong for England and what needs to be fixed after Tuesday’s defeat to Australia.

Consider a paid subscription to get FULL access to the whole site. Substack is fully dependent on the WFC community, that's how this works, and the more people who pay, the better this can become and hopefully I can continue to provide you, the readers, with genuinely unique and in-depth women's football content.

Next week will be somewhat back to normal with a couple of big interviews and a new ‘My Best XI’, following on from a successful launch with Germany’s Anja Mittag a few weeks ago.