Optus Sport will broadcast the play-off tournament live from New Zealand starting this weekend (February 18-19), to decide the final teams qualifying for this year’s World Cup.
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ICYMI, Portugal, Haiti and Panama were the three winners from the final qualifying tournament held in New Zealand in late February. Portugal went into Group E of main tournament, Haiti entered Group D while Panama qualified for Group C.
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The provisional Matildas squad was announced this morning.
Note: visit this thread to discuss all media coverage of the tournament.
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https://twitter.com/TheMatildas/status/1675723037226987520?s=20
SQUAD: 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐃. Introducing our 23-player squad for the #FIFAWWC - ready to give it our all on home soil! #TilitsDone
Matchup reminder:
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Telecom company Orange has released an ad which begins with Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, among other high-profile Le Bleus, scoring screamers, running on the ball at lightning speed and engaging in technical trickery that has crowds in pubs cheering in delight.
Then, midway through the two-minute ad, up pops a message which reads: “Only Les Bleus can give us these emotions. But that’s not them you’ve just seen.”
The footage rewinds and viewers are walked through a video-editing process revealing that the heads of those famous footballers had, in fact, been superimposed onto the bodies of the women’s France national team.
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decided to see what tickets i could buy for Brisbane games today.
SInce this morning I’ve brought tix for the following
Australia v Nigeria
France v Brazil
ROI v Nigeria
Korea v Germany
Round of 16
3rd Place playoff.
not all of these were easy - The France v Brazil and Australia v Nigeria were brought on the offical reseller website.
i’m only missing 2 BNE games - one is the England game on Saturday and the other is the Quarter final
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New Zealand had won the first match of FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, beating Norway 1-0 at Eden Park, off the back of Hannah Wilkinson’s goal in the 48th minute. It’s the Football Ferns’ first ever win in the Women’s World Cup finals.
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Massive, massive news:
Sam Kerr ruled out of the first two matches of the World Cup:
https://twitter.com/TheMatildas/status/1681948466946392064
Australia’s starting XI:
The Matildas are off and running in the tournament, defeating Ireland 1-0 in Sydney tonight with Steph Catley’s penalty in the 51st minute. Attendance was 75,784, a new record for a Matildas match.
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A big upset in Brisbane tonight, with Australia losing to Nigeria 2-3. The Matildas, without both Mary Fowler and Aivi Luik due to concussions in training, scored first thanks to Emily Van Egmond in first minute of first half stoppage time, but conceded the next three goals within a 30-minute period both sides of half time. Alanna Kennedy scored a consolation goal for the home side just a couple of minutes from full time.
The Matildas must beat Canada in Melbourne next Monday night to qualify for the next round.
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Pathetic performance. But it’s not really the players’ fault, management set them up for failure from the start. Why even bother having a bench if you aren’t going to use them? And the sheer arrogance, basically going in right from the squad submission. Essentially instilling in the team that “we’re so good we’re going to breeze right through the group stage that we can select players who might not be able to play until the quarter-finals”. Utter farce. Why hamstring yourself like that?
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I was at the game and the crowd really deflated when we went 2 down. i ended up leaving with 10 to go to make a bus and i was not the only one
it was an absolute shocking performance by the matildas.
I’m off to Brazil v France tomorrow so hopefully it will be a better standard of football
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New Zealand have been eliminated from the World Cup after a scoreless draw against Switzerland at Dunedin this evening. The Football Ferns needed a win to progress to the knockout rounds. Norway thrashed Philippines 6-0 to finish second in Group A behind Switzerland, both of whom go into round of 16.
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0 - 2 Matildas 
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That penalty virtually guarantees the Matildas go into the Round of 16. Just amazing stuff from the Aussies tonight in Melbourne and the crowd’s gone bonkers 
Absolute annihilation of Canada tonight. Commiserations to the maple syrup.
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Australia are through to round of 16 after beating Canada 4-0. Sam Kerr was a substitute but didn’t take to the field.
The 0-0 draw between Nigeria and Ireland in Brisbane tonight means Canada (reigning Olympic champions) are out of the tournament, while Australia finish first in the first group, with Nigeria second.
Earlier this evening, Japan topped Group C after thrashing Spain 4-0, but both teams progress to round of 16. In the other match, Zambia beat Costa Rica 3-1.
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The Matildas will play Denmark in the round of 16 encounter at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium next Monday, after the Danes accounted for Haiti 2-0 in Perth tonight. Denmark finished second in Group D behind England, who thrashed China 6-1 in Adelaide in the FTA broadcast match. England will face Nigeria in Brisbane on Monday evening.
Earlier in Group E, defending champions USA squeezed into round of 16 after holding off a spirited challenge from Portugal for a 0-0 draw, while Netherlands demolished Vietnam 7-0 to top the group.
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