Women’s World Cup Group A Preview: Hege Riise to Awaken Sleeping Norway in New Zealand

• New Zealand will get the 2023 Women's World Cup going with a clash against Norway
• Norway has a host of world superstars at their disposal but haven't performed well in recent times
• Debutants Philippines and Switzerland are the other Group A teams in what is seen as an open group

The Football Ferns of New Zealand will be out to put on a show when the tournament gets underway at Eden Park on July 20.

The Kiwis have never made it past the group stage in their five appearances at the World Cup. On paper, they have decent chances to sail through this time if they can get a good result against Norway.

Norway is only one of the four teams to have a World Cup title to their name and they will be strong favourites to win the group. The rest of the spots are filled by Switzerland and Phillippines - the latter making her bow at this stage.

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Sports Brief has also done previews for Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G and Group H.

New Zealand

The Ferns might have the home advantage, but they will be concerned with their one win in 11 games. During this period, they have only scored four times.

Head Coach Jitka Klimkova has a perfect blend of youth and experience to craft a competitive team out of with Ali Riley key to her plans to stem the leakage at the back.

They will also be looking for their first win at the World Cup stage, having played in 15 games so far. Doing so in front of a vibrant home crowd looks like a perfect place to start.

Player(s) to watch; Ali Riley, Gabi Rennie

Norway

If we were to go by the number of big game players in each squad, then Norway would rank highly among the favourites.

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But the Scandinavian nation has been rocked by serious poor performances in recent months - greater of which the 8-0 humbling at the hands of England.

To address this, they roped in their greatest-ever player, Hege Riise, as the Head Coach. Riise was part of the squad that won the World Cup in 1995.

Riise has since plugged in the leaks in the defence though one gets the feeling that Norway can outscore any team when their attackers are in the mood.

Barcelona's Caroline Graham Hansen will be their go-to player, with Ada Hegerberg also keen on making an impact after her self-inflicted exile. Chelsea's Guroo Reiten will most likely round off the front three in Riise's preferred 4-3-3 formation.

Player(s) to watch: Ada Hegerberg, Caroline Graham-Hansen, Guroo Reiten

Phillipines

The Philippines will be among the eight countries making their debuts at this year's Women's World Cup. The group's underdogs will arrive in Australia full of confidence after showing steady improvement and recording groundbreaking achievements under Alen Stajcic.

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Stajcic was unceremoniously sacked by Australia in 2019 after repeatedly guiding the Matildas to previous World Cups. The Philippines have played a number of friendlies over the past year and will boast of having stayed together in camp longer than almost any other side in the 32-team competition.

They might not have the headline-making stars of Hansens and Hegerbergs, but they will look up to their captain Tahnai Annis whose ability to create and score goals has often propelled the team.

Player(s) to watch; Tahnai Annis, Sarina Bolden, Isabella Flanigan

Switzerland

Like Norway, the Swiss will head into this tournament looking to rectify the mistakes of a poor showing at last year's Euros. They had a decent run in the qualifiers but left it late to win against Wales.

New Head Coach Inka Grings took over from Nils Nielsen at the start of the year and is yet to record a first victory. She will fancy her chances against newbies, the Philippines when the two meet at the Dunedin Stadium on July 21.

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The team has a number of recognisable faces, with Ramona Bachmann, the absolute pick from the bunch. The Paris Saint-Germain has had glittering spells with Chelsea before and she will be expected to bring her wealth of experience to the tourney.

Grings, a two-time Euros winner with Germany, will also have the likes of Barcelona's Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic and Aston Villa's Alisha Lehmann at her disposal as they seek to better their round of 16 exit in 2015.

Player(s) to watch; Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic, Ramona Bachmann, Alisha Lehmann, Lia Wattl