Football Ferns tipped to make knockout phase of World Cup

Despite their underwhelming form heading into the World Cup the Football Ferns are still predicted to make it out of pool play and into the knock phase of the tournament.

Global sports date company Gracenote has released its predictions ahead of the global tournament, to be played in New Zealand and Australia, with the Football Ferns, who will play their first match against Norway in Auckland on Thursday night, tipped to be among the 16 teams who qualify for the playoffs.

New Zealand’s 2-nil win over Vietnam in Napier last week ended a ten game winless run and was just their fourth win under coach Jitka Klimková in 24 game.

New Zealand beat Vietnam in their last outing, ending a ten game winless run.
Photo: Lynne Cameron/www.photosport.nz

Gracenote is predicting the Football Ferns, who have never won a game in a World Cup tournament, will be the 15th team to progress through to the the knock-out stage, with Denmark to fill the 16th and final spot.

The United States are favourites to win the World Cup but their bid for a third straight title faces a strong challenge from Europe’s top sides as well as co-hosts Australia, according to date compnay Nielsen’s Gracenote.

The Americans’ chances of claiming their fifth victory overall are only 18%.

Sweden, Germany, France and England are the main contenders, with a 58% chance the winner will come from this quintet.

Gracenote’s forecast, based on approximately one million simulations of the tournament, gave Olympic silver medallists and third-ranked Sweden the second best chance of winning (11%).

“Our simulations confirm that World Cup 2023 is likely to be a very open and competitive tournament,” said Gracenote’s head of analysis Simon Gleave.

“There is a strong challenge to champions and favourites USA from Europe and Australia’s home advantage has boosted them to the seventh most likely team to win the competition.”

Germany (11%), France (9%), European champions England (8%), Spain (8%), Australia (8%), Brazil (7%) and reigning Olympic champions Canada (6%) round out the favourites.

The eight most likely quarter-finalists are Spain, the U.S., France, Germany, Sweden, England, Japan and Australia in that order, while the most likely semi-finalists are the U.S., Sweden, Germany and France.

The most likely World Cup final is U.S. v Germany at just under 6%, with the U.S. v France, England, Australia and Brazil – in that order – rounding out the top five most likely finals.

-Reuters/RNZ