Tag: 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

USWNT World Cup opener vs. Vietnam gets big TV ratings

Turns out people like the USWNT

The U.S. women’s national team was on the big stage Friday night, and they drew a huge crowd.

According to Fox Sports, the USWNT’s World Cup-opening 3-0 win over Vietnam drew in 5,261,000 viewers.

That marks the second-highest figure to ever tune into an English-language USWNT group stage match, only bettered by the 5.3 million viewers who watched their 3-0 win over Chile in 2019.

Drawing on metrics from Nielsen Research and Adobe Analytics, Fox said that viewership spiked to just over 6.5 million during the game’s final 15 minutes. Additionally, the match averaged 155,821 streaming viewers, the network’s biggest figure ever for a women’s World Cup group stage match.

That’s big growth from the first U.S. game in the 2019 tournament against Thailand. That match drew a TV audience of 2,649,000, with Friday’s game representing a 99% improvement.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Telemundo, between TV and streaming, drew in around 1,000,000 viewers, a new all-time high among Spanish-language broadcasts of a women’s World Cup group-stage game in the United States.

Those figures bode well for the USWNT’s next game, a rematch of the 2019 World Cup final against the Netherlands. Like the Vietnam win, that game is set for a 9:00 p.m. Eastern kickoff on Fox (and, in Spanish, on Telemundo).

The top markets in terms of viewership share were:

  • Kansas City (5.0 rating/16 share)
  • Washington, D.C. (4.3/15)
  • Hartford, Conn. (3.9/11)
  • Austin, Texas (3.7/13)
  • San Francisco (3.6/15)

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USWNT player ratings: Smith stands out as U.S. eases past Vietnam in World Cup opener

Smith was at the center of most of the USWNT’s best in their win

It may not have been the blowout some expected, but the U.S. women’s national team started the World Cup off with a 3-0 win over Vietnam.

A first-half brace from Sophia Smith — one goal was clinical, the other needed a fairly hefty slice of luck — set the USWNT on their way. After some missed chances, including an Alex Morgan penalty kick that was saved by Vietnam’s Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Lindsey Horan added the third on an assist from Smith.

In the context of Vietnam’s recent results, including only falling to Germany 2-1, it’s a decent result. It’s also not the rout that fans may have thought was coming, though on another day the goals may have been flowing with just a touch more sharpness from the attacking players.

As a reminder, here’s the Pro Soccer Wire player rating scale:

Our scale:

  • 1: Abysmal. Literally any member of our staff would have been been able to play at this level.
  • 6: Adequate. This is our base score.
  • 10: Transcendent, era-defining performance. This is Carli Lloyd vs. Japan in the 2015 final.

USWNT lineup vs. Vietnam: Trinity Rodman, Julie Ertz start while Alana Cook surprisingly dropped

Some intriguing choices from Vlatko Andonovski

The U.S. women’s national team will start something of a surprising lineup against Vietnam, with Vlatko Andonovski taking some chances in his team selection for their World Cup opener.

Andonovski named eight of the players who started the USWNT’s 2-0 send-off win over Wales as starters at Eden Park in Auckland as the U.S. opened up their slate of Group E matches.

Julie Ertz, Trinity Rodman, and Savannah DeMelo were the new additions, with Ertz rather surprisingly chosen at center back over projected starter Alana Cook.

Rodman, meanwhile, came into the front line for Alyssa Thompson, while DeMelo was selected over Ashley Sanchez and Rose Lavelle, whose minutes are currently being limited as she completes her return from a knee injury.

USWNT lineup vs. Vietnam

(4-3-3): Naeher; Fox, Ertz, Girma, Dunn; DeMelo, Sullivan, Horan; Smith, Morgan, Rodman

Vietnam lineup (6-3-1): Tran Thi Kim Thanh; Tran Thi Thu Thao, Luong Thị Thu Thuong, Tran Thi Hai Linh, Tran Thi Thu, , Le Thi Diem My, Hoàng Thi Loan; Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung, Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, Thai Thi Thao; Huynh Nhu

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Sam Kerr injury dents Australia hopes despite World Cup win over Ireland

Kerr’s return is an unknown at this point

Australia got off to a winning World Cup start, but were still left with an enormous worry in terms of their prospects as contenders.

The Matildas defeated the Republic of Ireland 1-0 before over 75,000 fans at Stadium Australia in Sydney on Thursday, and had to do so without superstar striker Sam Kerr. The Chelsea forward was held out of the match due to a calf strain apparently suffered in their final training session before the match.

Minutes before announcing their starting lineup to the public, Football Australia took to social media to announce the bad news.

“Sam Kerr is unavailable tonight after she picked up a calf injury at training on [matchday-minus-one],” said Australia’s announcement. “Sam will be unavailable for the next two matches with the Matildas Medical Team to re-assess her following our second group stage match.”

With Kerr out, Australia had a void to fill in terms of both their captaincy and their penalty taker. Arsenal left back Steph Catley stepped up in both cases, captaining the Matildas and converting a second-half spot kick in a closer-than-anticipated victory.

“Losing a player like Sam, probably the best player in the world – and just for her as a person – we were completely heartbroken,” said Catley in a post-match press conference. “We used her spirit and used the fact that she wasn’t able to be out there with us to help us push on and to all add a bit to what we already bring.

“That’s what it’s going to take for as long as she misses… she’s massive for us and she’s so important. She’s our spiritual leader and whatever role she plays in the next however long, will be massive.”

That “however long” is a key issue. While Australia said that Kerr will also miss the team’s next match against Nigeria, the only information they could offer was that they would evaluate her status after that match’s finish.

“We have to be honest with you, we said she will be out for two games. After that we will reassess it,” said Matildas manager Tony Gustavsson. “Right now we don’t know what grade [the strain] is.”

It is hard to overstate Kerr’s importance to Australia. She is the undisputed face of the team, a leader as Catley said, and also its best player. Her 63 international goals in 121 appearances represent an outstanding scoring record, and in truth the Matildas don’t have a similar but lesser player they can plug into their lineup.

Without Kerr, Gustavsson brought Cortnee Vine into the team on the left wing, pushing Caitlin Foord up to lead the line. Australia struggled to turn possession into looks in the final third against a rugged Ireland side, and will have to expect more of the same in terms of opposition tactics from Nigeria and (should Kerr remain out) Canada in their Group B finale.

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2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Day 1 Recap: Host countries get it done

Day 1 of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has come and gone, and the host countries took care of business.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is officially underway! The ninth edition of the event, which is being hosted in Australia and New Zealand, got started on Thursday. Both host nations helped kickstart the event, with New Zealand facing off against Norway and Australia taking on the Republic of Ireland.

A quick reminder before we get into the games, you can keep up with the entire World Cup right here at Pro Soccer Wire! You can find the TV/streaming schedule, an updated list of the group stage standings, and the race for the Golden Boot here at all times.

Now, let’s get into the action from Day 1.