USWNT vs. Vietnam Breakdown

The tournament is already underway with co-hosts New Zealand and Australia each picking up 1-0 wins in their opening matches. Our focus this time out is the first match of day three of the tournament.

One of the biggest storylines of this Women’s World Cup begins to take focus this Friday night. A quest for a threepeat commences in Auckland, where it’ll already be 1 pm local time Saturday at the opening kickoff.

USWNT Open Up Mission for Threepeat vs. Vietnam to Start Group E

When the Women’s World Cup draw took place last October, one of the questions surrounding the draw was “Where will the United State’s Women’s National Team be slotted?” Action in Group E begins for the Americans this Friday night (US primetime) against the No. 32-ranked national team in FIFA, Vietnam.

Ordinarily, the time difference between New Zealand and the Eastern Time Zone isn’t conducive for watching live sports in America if you have a normal sleep schedule. Thankfully, much like the men’s team in Qatar last fall,  the schedule-makers have thrown fans a bone with the start time of two of the three group stage matches.

Inside the United States, live coverage of the match in English begins at 7 pm ET/ 4 pm PT with a two-hour studio show on FOX Sports. Kickoff of the game is scheduled for shortly after 9 pm ET/ 6 pm PT. Spanish language coverage will be seen on Telemundo and Peacock. 

The 23.

We can’t wait to represent you Down Under 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/mXjaRRAZ08

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) July 10, 2023

Americans Coming Into World Cup on Hot Form

The United States enters this tournament having won back-to-back Women’s World Cups. You couldn’t ask for the Stars and Stripes to come into the field on better form.

They’ve played eight matches so far this year, winning all of them. Just under two weeks ago, the Americans played Wales in San Jose. Although it took a while for the team to get going, they secured a 2-0 victory in the last match for the national team before the World Cup.

Trinity Rodman notched both tallies in the successful friendly after the 75th minute of play. The daughter of former Chicago Bulls center Dennis Rodman will make her Women’s World Cup debut on Friday, but they can’t afford a slow start. They’ll need to score early in this one to put Vietnam away.

Rapinoe’s Last Ride

Unless you’ve just emerged from a coma, you already know that the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be the final one for one of the best athletes in USWNT history. On July 8, one afternoon before the USWNT/Wales fixture, forward Megan Rapinoe announced she’ll be retiring as a competitor after the NWSL season.

“I’ve been able to have such an incredible career, and this game has brought me all over the world and allowed me to meet so many amazing people,” Rapinoe began. “I feel incredibly grateful to have played as long as I have, to be successful as I’ve been, and to have been part of a generation of players who undoubtedly left the game better than they found it. To be able to play one last World Cup and one last NWSL season and go out on my own is incredibly special.”

No matter what your opinions of this proven winner are, there’s no denying this: Megan Rapinoe is and will always be a legend. If the USWNT win this World Cup and send her into retirement with another trophy, it’ll be amazing.

Vietnam Playing First Women’s World Cup Match Ever

2023 marks the first appearance for a Vietnamese senior national team in any World Cup. Friday’s opposition was the first nation to book a place in the Women’s World Cup more than a year ago, having done so the hard way.

Upon suffering a 3-1 defeat to China during the AFC Asian Women’s Cup Quarterfinals, Vietnam bounced back with two straight wins in a playoff to lock up its spot in the tournament. Luckily for the USWNT, they’ve hit a rough patch of late.

So far in 2023, the squad has played 11 matches out of 13 scheduled contests, winning seven of them. Last time out, they got thumped 9-0 at the hands of Spain in Auckland during a warm-up match a week ago.

Can USWNT Neutralize Hyunh Nhu?

A key cog in the Golden Star Women’s Warriors success in recent years has been team captain and forward Hyunh Nhu. Since the start of 2022, Nhu has tallied 16 goals, with five of them coming in matches played this calendar year.

She’s been kept off of the scoreboard of late, however, with her most recent goal happening on May 15 against Myanmar. Any kind of individual cold streak going into a major tournament has to be welcome news for the Stars and Stripes.

If they can make Nhu a non-factor on Friday, they’ll be golden.

Final Thoughts

Historically, the USWNT has been one of the toughest squads in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. They didn’t win two championships in succession for no reason at all.

This is a team that can easily coast to three points in the standings on Friday, but they’ve got to take this tournament one match at a time, one minute at a time. As long as they jump out to a quick start, they can end this match as a contest inside the first 30 minutes of play.

Prediction: USWNT 8, Vietnam 0.