Zambia will take on Japan in their first match in Group C of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, looking to follow up their shocking victory over Germany in their final pre-tournament friendly with one of real consequence.
Japan are looking ready in front of their first group stage game. They have all the qualities necessary to finish at the top of the table and are in Group C with Costa Rica, Spain, and Zambia. In their first match, against Zambia, they will aim for victory.
Then again, the last time Zambia played in a significant competition was almost a year prior. It merits realizing that they are the champions of the COSAFA Cup Women 2022 as they defeated South Africa by 1-0 last year.
Zambia stunned Germany with a late stoppage-time winner to defeat them 3-2 just a few weeks before the start of the World Cup. They were ranked 77th in the world, making them the lowest-ranked team in the entire field. The African nation is now prepared to compete in the Women’s World Cup for the first time, hoping to replicate its performance on a larger stage.
Japan have relapsed since their 2011 Women’s World Cup title, wrapping as runners-up in 2015 preceding crashing out in the Round of 16 four years ago. Presently, in the wake of missing the mark concerning in any event, arriving at the 2022 Asian Cup final, the world’s 11th-ranked side harbors dreams about demonstrating that they are as yet a global power in women’s football.
Among a truly challenging Group C field, this match could be basic towards concluding who from the group will progress to the knockout stage, with competition abilities Spain expected to beat out all competitors.
Japan is the only Asian team to have won the competition and furthermore, the only team to have been the runners-up once they have eight events in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019.
Zambia is clashing with Japan beginning on 22 Jul 2023 at 07:00 UTC at FMG Stadium Waikato Stadium, Hamilton City, New Zealand.
This competition is Zambia’s debut in the FIFA World Cup, as they were exceptionally near qualifying in 2014 and 2018 yet failed to qualify. On July 22, Zambia and Japan will face off in their opening World Cup match.
Even though Zambia is ranked 77th in the world, they still believe they can surprise some people. One reason this team has such a lot of certainty is a direct result of what they had the option to do in the last game. Zambia prevailed 3-2 over a formidable Germany team in their encounter. After permitting a goal in stoppage time to surrender the lead, it was Barbara Banada who scored a second goal to get the success. Rachael Kundananji and Grace Chanda are two of the question marks heading in the World Cup, however, both could begin here. Hazel Nali is expected to begin in goal, and they will need to be great here.
Zambia is a footballing nation that has a lot to be happy about heading into their first women’s World Cup campaign. Bruce Mwape’s team has won the COSAFA Women’s Cup, reached the semi-finals of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, and beat a formidable Germany team in a friendly earlier this month.
Barbra Banda, scorer of consecutive Olympic hat-tricks for the Copper Queens and top scorer during their COSAFA Women’s Cup win addresses a huge goal threat, as does Racheal Kundananji, yet to get an opportunity at this World Cup, they’ll have to place in the kind of defensive performance against elite opposition which we haven’t seen before from them, particularly while considering without any best option goalkeeper Hazel Nali through injury.
Zambia will feature to the world the football ability of Africa. In their debut World Cup debut game, the Zambians will attempt to assume control over the Japanese and pull an agitated success.
Japan is a team with a lot of questions but a lot of confidence heading into this women’s World Cup. Japan has just had one game since April, yet they sure great searched in that game. Japan went head to head against Panama, and they had the option to get the 5-0 triumph. Japan didn’t score their first goal until the 33rd minute yet that truly opened up the floodgates. Japan had 61% of the possession and 14 shots on track. Saki Kumagai will captain the team. Mina Tanaka will be starting up front and will have to come down.
After a couple of disappointing results in recent major tournaments, including failing to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics and being eliminated at the round of 16 stage of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Japan’s supporters have high expectations for the Nadeshiko. Japan finished runners-up in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Mina Tanaka, a striker for Angel City, appears to have reached full fitness just in time for the start of the tournament, which is a big boost for Japan. Her teammate and Man City star Yui Hasegawa will provide her with support from midfield.
Japan has solidified itself as the best women’s national team from the Asian Football Confederation. The Nadeshiko will attempt to make a run and hoist their second World Cup in the 2023 edition.
It is important to note that both teams will be competing against one another for the first time. The fundamental worry for Zambia is that they have played in just well-disposed games starting from the start of this current year. This will probably influence their preparation against Japan who are ranked 11th in the FIFA Women’s Ranking.
Date: Saturday, July 22
Kickoff Time: 3 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. BST / 5 p.m. AEST
Location: FMG Stadium Waikato (Hamilton, New Zealand)
Official: Tess Olofsson (SWE)
Japan have demonstrated a World Cup family and ought to have no issue changing into competitive football. They will likely benefit from their big-stage experience against Zambia, but Japan won’t have it easy against an underrated team that is getting better and better as an all-around team. Zambia will give Japan a real run for their cash and are more than fit to acquire accomplishment against Futoshi Ikeda’s side offensively. No matter what the ultimate result here is, backing the two teams to score is to be truly thought of.
Zambia still have a lot of respect for the lowest-ranked team in the field facing an established top international team, even though Japan is heavily favored to win.
Zambia’s pre-tournament-friendly outcomes have seen them allowed a lot greater opportunity for a furious in this game, regardless of Japan’s strong recent performances through 2023. Interestingly, Zambia is still a slight underdog at odds of 8/1, but they are expected to score at least one goal against a strong Japanese defense.
Zambia figured out how to pull a few surprise triumphs lately, yet pulling another in this extraordinary match will be hard. Lots of goals are expected, however, Japan takes the cake in high-scoring style.
You can back the following: the Japan -1.5 Asian Handicap, which is our first tip and has odds of 1.900 odd. They as of late scored two objectives against Portugal in a friendly game. Furthermore, they defeated Canada by three goals in the SheBelieves Cup. Accordingly, we can back Japan to score somewhere around two goals against Zambia.
Continuing, our second tip for this game is that the two teams will score the odds for this tip will be valued at 1.61. The fact that Zambia has scored in each of their friendly matches against elite European teams since June is the primary reason for this tip. Not to mention that Japan is also scoring a lot of goals.
| Role | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Catherine Musonda, Eunice Sakala, Hazel Nali. |
| Defenders | Agness Musase, Esther Siamfuko, Judith Soko, Vast Phiri, Mary Mulenga, Pauline Zulu, Martha Tembo. |
| Midfielders | Evarine Katongo, Mary Wilombe, Susan Banda, Xiomara Mapepa, Comfort Selemani, Ireen Lungu, Hellen Chanda. |
| Forwards | Barbra Banda, Ochumba Oseke, Hellen Mubanga, Racheal Nachula, Grace Chanda, Racheal Kundananji, Inonge Kaloustian. |
| Coach | Bruce Mwape |
| Captain | Barbra Banda |
| Role | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeeper | Ayaka Yamashita, Momoko Tanaka, Chika Hirao. |
| Defenders | Risa Shimizu, Moeka Minami,Saki Kumagai, Shiori Miyake, Ruka Norimatsu, Saori Takarada, Kiko Seike, Miyabi Moriya, Rion Ishikawa. |
| Midfielders | Fuka Nagano, Hinata Miyazawa, Hikaru Naomoto, Jun Endo, Yui Hasegawa, Hina Sugita, Honoka Hayashi, Aoba Fujino. |
| Forwards | Riko Ueki, Mana Iwabuchi, Mina Tanaka, Maika Hamano. |
| Coach | Futoshi Ikeda |
| Captain | Saki Kumagai |
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Musonda; Belemu, Musase, Mweemba, Tembo; Banda, Katongo, Lubandji; Banda, Chitundu, Kundananji
UNAVAILABLE: Nali (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: –
PREDICTED XI (3-4-3): Yamashita; Ishikawa, Kumagai, Minami; Endo, Hasegawa, Nagano, Shimizu; Fujino, Tanaka, Miyazawa
UNAVAILABLE: –
QUESTIONABLE: –
| TV channel | Streaming | |
|---|---|---|
| USA | FS1, Universo | Fubo, Peacock, Telemundo Deportes site/app, Fox Sports site/app |
| Canada | TSN3, TSN4, TSN5 | TSN+, RDS site/app |
| UK | BBC Two | BBC iPlayer, BBC website |
| Australia | — | Optus Sport |
| New Zealand | — | Sky Go, Sky Sport NOW |
| India | DD Sports Channel | Fancode |
| Hong Kong | Now TV | Viu |
| Singapore | Singtel TV | StarHub TV+, Singtel TV GO, CAST, mewatch |
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