New Zealand Women’s Team: Predictions for the 2023 World Cup
by Joseph King | by Kevin Richard
Football Ferns Looking to Flip the Script
The ninth-edition of the Women’s World Cup sees the first Oceanian hosts in New Zealand and Australia. Despite this marking their sixth appearance at the tournament, New Zealand are still searching for their first ever win at the Women’s World Cup. The Football Ferns have the ignominy of holding the current record for the most Women’s World Cup matches without a victory at 15. Their best ever finish was in the 2015 edition where they accumulated two points by way of two draws. Unfortunately, they would still finish bottom of the group.
This time around, however, they’ll have the support of the entire country behind them. The host nation at the Women’s World Cup has qualified from the group stage in all eight previous editions. With a manageable group and the support of the home fans, the New Zealand women are looking at arguably their best ever chance at making it to the round of 16. Be sure to check out our Women’s World Cup predictions page as we’ll be breaking down every match in the competition!
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Can New Zealand Finally Break Through?
The leadup to the World Cup has been far from ideal for the Ferns, causing serious concerns as to their chances in the tournament. New Zealand suffered through a 10 match winless run from September 2022 to April 2023, where they would lose eight and draw twice. During this stretch, they also scored a total of only three goals and went on a scoring drought which totaled 561 minutes (just over six full matches total).
The results on the pitch are in stark opposition to what Czech manager Jitka Klimkova has publicly stated that she wants the team philosophy to be. Klimkova expressed the desire to have her team keeping possession of the ball and controlling the flow of the play. New Zealand were at least able to get one victory under their belts prior to the opening match against Norway. The host nation recorded a 2-0 win over 32nd-ranked Vietnam at McLean Park on the 10th of July. However, they would then go on to be shut out by Italy in a 1-0 loss just four days later.
As for their group stage matches, in a way they can come into their first fixture, which is also the opening match of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, without pressure. Norway are the clear group favorites and will be expected to record a rather comfortable win over the host nation on the 20th of July. New Zealand will instead be targeting three points against 46th ranked Philippines in their second fixture. A win in that match would set up a final group stage encounter with Switzerland that could very well determine which nation advances. Any result against Norway in the opening game will be viewed as a bonus.
Unfortunately we don’t see enough goal scoring talent in this New Zealand team for them to pose much of a threat of a surprise run. Arguably their four best players are defensive minded in Ali Riley (fullback), Ria Percival (defensive midfielder), CJ Bott (fullback) and Katie Bowen (centre-back). They’ll be heavily reliant on 31-year-old Hannah Wilkinson to produce up front. The Melbourne City striker is responsible for two of New Zealand’s eight total World Cup goals in the nation’s history.
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2023 Women’s World Cup - New Zealand’s fixtures
New Zealand come into this World Cup with their lowest ever ranking at 26th. They will face off against the 1995 champions in 12th-ranked Norway, 20th-ranked Switzerland and the sixth-lowest ranked team in the tournament in 46th-ranked Philippines.
Here is the full fixture list (date and time according to UK time zone):
- New Zealand vs Norway - July 20th 8:00 AM, Eden Park
- New Zealand vs Philippines - July 25th 6:00 AM, Sky Stadium
- New Zealand vs Switzerland - July 30th 8:00 AM, Forsyth Barr Stadium
You can follow all of the group stage matches and results by heading over to our Women’s World Cup live page!
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Top Predictions for New Zealand in the Women’s World Cup
New Zealand comes in at hefty odds of 251.00 on Bet365 and WilliamHill to lift the 2023 Women’s World Cup trophy on home soil.
The oddsmakers view their group qualification chances as more of a toss-up, with the juice slightly favoring the “No”. You can get a price of 1.91 for New Zealand to make it to the knockout stage for the first time in history. While all eight prior Women’s World Cups have seen the host nation qualify, some context is certainly required. The hosts for the tournament up to his point have been the United States (2), China (2), Sweden, Germany, Canada and France – all historically strong teams.
Unfortunately for fans of the Football Ferns, we see value in backing the odds of 1.80 for them to be eliminated in the group stage for the sixth consecutive appearance. Both bets can be found on Bet365. Click here to register your account and take advantage of their excellent sign-up bonus!
As for New Zealand’s opening matchup against 12th-ranked Norway, we’re targeting the Scandinavian side to get their tournament started with three points. New Zealand are really struggling in front of the net at the moment and will likely find it difficult to score against this strong Norwegian side. We see some value backing Norway to win to nil at 1.97 as well as Norway to win by at least two goals on the -1 European handicap at a price of 1.74 – both of which can be found at Vbet. You can get up to speed with all of the odds for the tournament on our Women’s World Cup odds page!
Group A odds to win the group
- Norway - 1.33
- Switzerland - 6.00
- New Zealand - 6.00
- Philippines - 501.00
Odds taken from Bet365
