Cadors and beautiful names from the planet of the round ball enter the running this Monday.
The alarm clock will not ring too early this Monday. With three posters on the program, each more interesting than the other, the week starts well for football fans, Monday July 24, as the first round of the group stages of the 2023 World Cup continues. The Italian and Argentinian selections, not yet at the level of their male counterparts, will open the ball, before giving way to the Germans and the Brazilians, who are among the favorites for the final victory.
7 a.m.: Italy-Argentina (France 3)
In a very dense group G, even if Sweden starts with a head start, the Italians and the Argentines know it: they must start their World Cup strong. And it goes through Eden Park, the mythical lair of New Zealand rugby, which will see these two nations (more rugby than women’s football for the moment) cross swords.
For the fourth participation in the World Cup, the Italians, quarter-finalists in 2019, will be able to count on a team in full progress, like the national championship, in full development. Opposite, Argentina, which is also playing its fourth World Cup, hopes to get out of the pools for the first time. This does not look easy for the South Americans, who are still chasing a first success in the competition (7 losses, 2 draws).
10:30 a.m.: Germany-Morocco (M6)
Women’s football is an 11v11 game, and in the end it’s often Germany who win. Pioneers in Europe, the Germans have always been a scarecrow. And this 2023 World Cup is no exception to the rule. Led by captain Alexandra Popp, executioner of PSG with Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season, the Germans are the big favorites in group H and intend to assume their status.
World champions in 2007 and 2013, Olympic champions in 2016, and 11 times European champions, they will challenge the modest Moroccans, finalists of the last African Cup of Nations. For their first participation in the World Cup, the Atlas Lionesses will be immersed in the deep end from the first meeting. Will the players of Frenchman Reynald Pedros be able to raise their level against the German experience?
1:00 p.m.: Brazil – Panama (W9)
For the French public, this is the most interesting poster of the day, since it opposes the next two opponents of Hervé Renard’s Bleues, the day after France’s draw (0-0) against Jamaica. A duel a priori very unbalanced in this group F, which will see the Brazilian stars and the legend Marta scrap against Panama. Panamanians, novices at this level, since they have never played in the World Cup or the Olympic Games.
The task therefore promises to be difficult against the Brazilians, winners of the last Copa America, and vice-world champions in 2007 and double silver medalists at the Olympic Games (2004, 2008). A record that does not necessarily reflect their level, they who are among the best nations in the world, and who intend to seek a first crown for the last participation of the legend Marta (37 years old, 112 goals in 164 selections).